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THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 





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No no!” she cried in a iense whisper. “Let him alone.” 


THE IVORY 
SNUFF BOX 


By 

ARNOLD FREDERICKS 


ILLUSTRATIONS BY 

WILL GREFE 



GROSSET & DUNLAP 

PUBLISHERS :: :i NEW YORK 




Copyright, 1912, by 
W. J. WATT & COMPANY 


Published October. 

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THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 




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I 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


CHAPTER I 

T he last thing that sounded in Richard Duvall’s 
ears as he left the oflSce of Monsieur Lefevre, 
Prefect of Police of Paris, were the latter’s words, 
spoken in a voice of mingled confidence and alarm, 
“ The fortunes of a nation may depend upon your 
faithfulness. Go, and God be with you.” He en- 
tered the automobile which was drawn up alongside 
the curb, and accompanied by Vemet, one of the Pre- 
fect’s assistants, was soon threading the torrent of 
traffic which pours through the Rue de Rivoli, 

The thoughts which lay uppermost in the detect- 
ive’s mind were of Grace, his wife; Grace Ellicott, 
who had become Grace Duvall but little more than an 
hour before. By this time he had expected to be on 
his way to Cherbourg, en route to New York, with 
Grace by his side. They had looked forward so hap- 
pily to their honeymoon, on shipboard, and now — he 

7 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


found himself headed for London on this mysterious 
expedition, and Grace waiting for him in vain at the 
pension. The thought was maddening. He swore 
softly to himself as he looked out at the crowded 
street. 

Monsieur Lefevre had no right to ask so great a 
sacrifice of him, he grumbled. What if he had dis- 
tinguished himself, made himself the Prefect’s most 
valued assistant, during the past six or eight months ? 
The matters which had brought him from New York 
to Paris had all been definitely concluded — Grace 
and he were married — his plans had all been made, 
to return to America, and home. Now at the last 
moment, it was frightfully exasperating to have Mon- 
sieur Lefevre insist that matters of so grave a nature 
had occurred, that the honor of his very country was 
at stake, and to call upon him, Duvall, as the one 
man who could set matters right. Of course, it was 
very flattering, but he wanted, not flattery, but Grace, 
and all the happiness which lay before them. What, 
after all, was this matter, this affair so vague and 
mysterious, into which he had so unexpectedly been 
thrown He drew out the instructions which the 
Perfect had hurriedly thrust into his hands, and looked 
at them with eager curiosity. 

8 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


They covered but one side of a small sheet of paper. 

Visit immediately number 87, Rue de Richelieu,’* 
they said. “ It is a small curio shop. Monsieur Du- 
frenne, the proprietor, expects you, and will join you 
at once. Proceed without delay to London and re- 
port to Monsieur de Grissac, the French Ambassador. 
He has lost an ivory snuff box, which you must re- 
cover as quickly as possible. You will find money 
enclosed herewith. Monsieur Defrenne you can trust 
in all things. God be with you. — Lefevre.’’ 

It was the first time that Duvall had read the in- 
structions. He had not had an opportunity to do so 
before. As he concluded his examination of them, 
his face hardened, his brow contracted in a frown, 
and he crushed the piece of paper in his hand. Was 
this some absurd joke that Monsieur Lefevre was play- 
ing upon him.? The idea of separating him from 
Grace upon their wedding day, to send him on an 
expedition, the object of wliich was to recover a lost 
snuff box! It seemed preposterous. In his anger 
he muttered aa exclamation which attracted the at- 
tention of Vemet. He was, in fact, on the point of 
stopping the automobile, and going at once to the 
pension where Grace was waiting for him, her trunks 
packed for their wedding journey. The impassive 

9 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


face of the Frencliman beside him relaxed a trifle, 
as he saw Duvall’s agitation. “ What is it. Monsieur 
Duvall ? ” he inquired. 

“ Do you know anything about this matter that 
makes it necessary for me to go to London.? ” de- 
manded Duvall. 

“ Nothing, monsieur, except that your train 
leaves — ” he consulted his watch — “ in twenty min- 
utes.” 

Duvall drew out a cigar and lit it, with a gesture 
of annoyance. “ The matter does not appear very 
important,” he grumbled. 

Vernet permitted a slight smile to cross his usually 
immobile face. “ I have been in the service of the 
Prefect for ten years,” he remarked, “ and I have 
learned that he wastes very little time upon unim- 
portant things.” He leaned out and spoke to the 
chauffeur, and in a moment the car halted before a 
dingy little shop, on the lower floor of an old and 
dilapidated-looking house. “ Here is the place of 
Monsieur Dufrenne,” he remarked significantly. 

Duvall threw open the door of the cab, and en- 
tered the dusty and cobwebbed doorway. He found 
himself in a small dimly lighted room, so crowded 
with curios of all sorts that he at first did not per- 
10 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


ceive the little white-haired old man who bent over 
a jeweler’s work bench in one corner. The walls 
were lined with shelves, upon which stood bits of 
ivory and porcelain, miniatures of all sorts, old pieces 
of silverware, bronze and copper, old coins, and rusty 
antique weapons. About the walls stood innumerable 
pictures, old and cracked, in dilapidated-looking 
frames, while from the ceiling were suspended bits 
of rusty armor, swords, brass censers, Chinese lamps, 
and innumerable other objects, the use of which he 
could scarcely guess. 

All these things he saw, in a queer jumble of im- 
pressions, as his eyes swept the place. In a moment 
the little old man in the comer turned, peering at 
him over his steel-rimmed spectacles. You wish 
to see me, monsieur.? ” he inquired in a thin, cracked 
voice. 

‘‘ Yes, I am Richard Duvall, I come from Mon- 
sieur the Prefect of Police.” 

The man at the workbench, on hearing these words, 
rose to his insignificant height, dropping as he did 
so the watch over which he had been working. He 
swept his tools into a drawer with a single gesture, 
turned to the wall behind him, drew on a thin gray 
overcoat and a dark slouch hat, and stepped from be- 
ll 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


hind the counter. “ I am ready, monsieur,” he re- 
marked, without a trace of agitation or excitement. 
“ Let us go.” 

Duvall turned to the door without further words, 
and threw it open. The old man motioned to him to 
pass out, and after the detective had done so, closed 
and locked the door carefully and followed him into 
the cab. Duvall observed that he was frail, and un- 
certain in his steps, and so bent from constant labor 
over his bench, that he gave one almost the impression 
of being hunchbacked. He took his seat beside the 
detective without a word, and in a moment the whole 
party was being driven rapidly toward the Gare du 
Nord, 

Duvall could not repress a feeling of admiration 
for the way in which Dufrenne had received him. He 
had asked no questions, delayed him by no prepara- 
tions, but had merely thrown down his tools, put on 
his hat, and started out. The importance or lack 
of importance of the matters which called him he 
did not inquire into — it was evidently quite enough, 
that Monsieur Lefevre desired his services. It made 
the detective feel somewhat ashamed of his recent ill 
nature, yet he could not but remember that this was 
his wedding day, and that in leaving his wife with- 
12 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


out even so much as a farewell word, he had given her 
good reason for doubting his love for her. Of course, 
he knew, the Prefect had assured him that he would 
explain everything to Grace, but such explanations 
were not likely to appeal very strongly to a girl who 
had been married but little more than an hour. It 
was, therefore, in a very dissatisfied frame of mind 
that he entered the compartment of the train for 
Boulogne. 

The compartment was a smoking one, and he and 
Dufrenne had it all to themselves. The little old 
Frenchman drew out a much-stained meerschaum pipe 
and began placidly to smoke it. His manner toward 
the detective was respectful, friendly indeed, yet he 
made no attempts at conversation, and seemed quite 
satisfied to sit and gaze out of the car window at the 
fields and villages as they swept by. Presently Du- 
vall spoke. 

“ Monsieur Dufrenne,” he began, slowly, “ you 
are no doubt familiar with the matter which takes us 
to London.? ” 

Dufrenne withdrew his gaze from the window and 
faced about in his seat with a nervous little gesture 
of assent. ‘‘ I understand that Monsieur de Grissac 
has been robbed of his snuff box,” he rephed. 

IS 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


Is that all you know ? ” Duvall inquired 
pointedly. ‘‘ Surely the recovery of an article of so 
little consequence cannot be the real purpose of 
our visit.” 

The little old man shrugged his shoulders, with an 
almost inperceptible gesture of dissent. I know 
nothing of the matter, monsieur,” he remarked, sig- 
nificantly, “ except that my country has called me, 
and that I am here.” He spoke the words proudly, 
as though he considered the fact that he had been 
called upon an honor. 

But surely, you must have some idea, monsieur, 
of your purpose in being here ? ” 

‘‘ Yes. That is indeed quite simple. On one oc- 
casion I was called upon to repair the snuff box of 
Monsieur de Grissac, the Ambassador. In that way 
I am familiar with its appearance. Now that it is 
lost, I am requested to accompany you, monsieur, in 
your attempt to recover it, in order that I may as- 
sist you in identifying it.” 

And beyond that, you know nothing.? ” 

‘‘ Nothing, monsieur.” 

Duvall began to chew the end of his cigar in vex- 
ation. Of all the absurd expeditions, this seemed the 
most absurd. Presently he turned to Dufrenne and 
14 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


again spoke. ‘‘ In your repairs upon this snuff box, 
to which so great a value is apparently attached, did 
you observe anything about it of a peculiar nature 
— anything to make its loss a matter of such grave 
importance ? ” 

“ Nothing, monsieur. It is a small, round ivory 
box, with a carved top, quite plain and of little 
value — ” 

“ But the contents? What, perhaps, did Monsieur 
de Grissac carry within it? ” 

Snuff, monsieur. It was quite half-full when it 
came to me, last April. Monsieur de Grissac was in 
Paris at the time. The spring which actuates the top 
had become broken — the box is very old, monsieur — 
and I was required to repair it. That is all I know.” 

“ And you close your shop, and leave Paris with- 
out a word, just for a thing like that? ” 

Dufrenne straightened his bent shoulders, and his 
eyes sparkled. “ When France calls me, monsieur, I 
have nothing to do but obey.” 

His reply seemed almost in the nature of a 
reproof. Duvall made no further comment and re- 
lapsed into a brown study. After all, he knew, even 
in his irritation, that Monsieur Lefevre had not sent 
him upon this adventure without some real and very 
15 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


good reason. Yet try as he would, he was unable 
to imagine what this reason could be. Of course, there 
must have been something inside the box, his final con- 
clusion was, else why should any one have stolen it.? 
No doubt the Ambassador, Monsieur de Grissac, 
would acquaint him with the truth of the affair. Pos- 
sibly the box may have contained papers of great 
value — though why one should choose such a place 
for the concealment of valuable papers he could not 
imagine. The whole aflPair seemed shrouded in mys- 
tery, and no amount of speculation on his part, ap- 
parently, would throw any light upon it. He lay 
back in his seat, dozing, and thinking of Grace and 
their interrupted honeymoon. 

At Boulogne they transferred to the boat for Folk- 
stone, and after a quiet passage, found themselves on 
board the train for London. They reached Charing 
Cross early in the evening, and taking a cab, drove 
at once to Monsieur de Grissac’s residence in Pic- 
cadilly, opposite Green Park. 


16 


CHAPTER II 


W HILE Richard Duvall was thus flying toward 
Boulogne, racking his brains in a futile at- 
tempt to discover the reasons for his sudden and un- 
expected dispatch to London, Grace, his wife, equally 
mystified, was proceeding in the direction of Brus- 
sels. 

The reasons for her going to Brussels were no more 
clear to her than were Richard’s, to him. At the 
conclusion of the wedding breakfast which had fol- 
lowed her simple marriage to Duvall, she had gone 
to the pension at which she had been living, to await 
her husband’s return. She had not then understood 
the mysterious message which had summoned him to 
the Prefect’s office, nor, for that matter, had he, but 
he had assured her that he would return in a short 
while, and that had been enough for her. 

Her patient waiting had been finally terminated 
by the arrival of the Prefect himself, who had ex- 
plained with polite brevity that a matter of the 

17 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


gravest importance had made it necessary for him 
to send Richard at once to London. 

The girl’s grief and alarm had been great — Mon- 
sieur Lefevre had at last, however, succeeded in con- 
vincing her that Richard could not under the circum- 
stances have done anything but go. His position as 
an assistant to Lefevre, and more particularly the 
friendship which existed between them, made it im- 
perative for him to come to the Prefect’s assistance in 
this crisis. 

What the crisis was, Grace did not learn. She 
had insisted upon following Richard, upon being 
near him, upon assisting him, should opportunity 
offer, and Monsieur Lefevre, seized with a sudden in- 
spiration, had dispatched her to Brussels, with the 
assurance that she would not only see her husband very 
soon, but might be able to render both him, and 
France, a very signal service. 

Grace had accepted the mission; her desire to be 
near Richard was a compelling motive, and as a re- 
sult she found herself flying toward the Belgian fron- 
tier, on an early afternoon express, with no idea 
whatever of what lay before her, and only a few 
words, written by Monsieur Lefevre upon a page torn 
from his notebook, to govern her future actions. 

18 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


She luckily was able to find a compartment in one 
of the first-class carriages where she could be alone, 
and sank back upon the cushioned seat, determined 
to face whatever dangers the future might hold, for 
the sake of her husband. 

Her mind traveled, in retrospect, over the events of 
the past few months — the conspiracy against her, by 
her step-uncle. Count d’Este, by which he had so 
nearly deprived her of the fortune left to her by 
her aunt, and the striking way in which his plans had 
been upset by Richard Duvall. She had loved him 
at their very first meeting, and now that they had 
become husband and wife, she loved him more than 
ever. It is small wonder that the thought of the way 
in which he had been suddenly torn from her, on the 
eve of their weddiilg journey, brought tears to her 
eyes. 

Presently she regained her composure and looked 
at the sheet of paper which the Prefect had handed 
to her. It contained but a few words : “ Proceed to 

the Hotel Metropole, Brussels. Take a room in the 
name of Grace Ellicott, and wait further instruc- 
tions.” That was all — no hint of how or when she 
and Richard were to meet, or what had been the cause 
of their separation. Once more the cruelty of the 

19 




THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


situation brought tears to her eyes. While feeling 
in her handbag for her handkerchief, she drew out 
the small silver ring which the Prefect had handed 
to her at the last moment. “ Trust any one,” he had 
said, “ who comes to you with such a token as this.” 
She examined the ring carefully, but the singular de- 
vice worked in gold upon the silver band, meant noth- 
ing to her. At length she placed the ring carefully 
upon her finger, and proceeded to cover it by putting 
on her glove. 

For a long time she sat, speculating upon the 
strange workings of fate, which doomed her to be 
thus speeding alone to Brussels, instead of to Cher- 
bourg, en route to America, with Richard by her 
side. The sight of two lovers, who boarded the train 
at St. Quentin, increased her dissatisfaction. They 
came into the compartment, evidently quite wrapped 
up in each other, and even the presence of a third 
person did not prevent them from holding each other’s 
hands under the cover of a friendly magazine, and 
gazing at each other with longing eyes. Grace was 
quite unable to endure the sight of their happiness — 
she turned away and buried herself in her thoughts. 

Presently the adventure-loving side of her nature 
began to assert itself. Richard had been sent on a 
20 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


mission of the greatest importance — one involving, 
Monsieur Lefevre had told her, the honor of both 
his country and himself. And she was to share it 
— to take part in its excitement, its dangers. The 
thought stirred all her love of the mysterious, the un- 
usual. After all, since she had become the wife of 
a man whose profession in life was the detection of 
crime, should she not herself take an interest, an ac- 
tive part in his work, and thereby encourage and as- 
sist him.^^ The thought made her impatient of all 
delay — she felt herself almost trying to urge the 
train to quicker motion — she was glad when at last 
they roared into the station at Brussels. 

Grace had never before been in the Belgian capital, 
but she summoned a cab, and proceeded without diffi- 
culty to the Hotel Metropole. Here she was assigned 
to a small suite, and at once began to unpack the 
steamer trunk which was the only baggage she had 
brought with her. It was after four o’clock when she 
had completed this task, and had removed the stains 
of travel and changed her gown. As she came into the 
tiny parlor which formed the second of the two rooms 
of the suite, she heard a tapping at the door, and 
upon opening it, discovered one of the hotel maids, 
waiting outside with fresh towels. The girl came in. 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


and busied herself setting to rights the toilet articles 
on the washstand. Grace, who was engaged in list- 
lessly watching the traffic in the square outside, paid 
no attention to her. Presently she heard the girl 
come in from the bedroom, and inquire if there was 
anything else that she could do for her. Noth- 
ing,” she replied, without turning. The maid, how- 
ever, did not leave the room, but stood near by, observ- 
ing her. Grace faced about. That is all,” she 
said sharply. 

“ I have something to say to you, mademoiselle,” 
the girl whispered in a low tone, as she took a step 
forward. “ A message from Monsieur Lefevre.” 

‘‘ Monsieur Lefevre.? You.? ” 

“ Yes, mademoiselle, I am in his confidence. I 
know the purpose of your visit here, and I come to 
give you further instructions.” She spoke quietly, 
impressively, and Grace was convinced that she was 
what she represented herself to be. Still, she felt the 
necessity of caution. “ Please explain,” she re- 
marked, without further committing herself. 

The girl approached still closer, and reaching into 
the bosom of her dress, drew out a ring similar to the 
one which the Prefect had given Grace. It was at- 
tached to a bit of ribbon. She glanced at the ring 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


on Grace’s finger and smiled. “ May I suggest, 
mademoiselle,” she said, that you place the ring you 
are wearing where it will be less conspicuous ? ” 

Grace colored slightly at the criticism which the 
woman’s words implied, but drew the ring from her 
finger and placed it in her purse. “ 'Wliat have you 
to say to me.? ” she inquired. 

This, mademoiselle. Certain persons, whose 
identity is not known to the police, have committed a 
theft in London — in fact, have stolen a valuable 
article from the French Ambassador there, Monsieur 
de Grissac. This theft was committed this morning.” 

“ What did they steal ? ” asked Grace. 

“ Monsieur de Grissac’s ivory snuff box, mademoi- 
selle.” 

‘‘ His snuflp box.? You don’t mean to say that they 
are making all this fuss over a trifling thing like a 
snuff box .? ” 

Yes, mademoiselle. Such is, indeed, the case.” 

“ But why.? ” 

That I cannot tell. I do not know. It is suffi- 
cient to me that Monsieur Lefevre wishes it recov- 
ered. In our service, mademoiselle, we are not 
supposed to ask questions, but to obey orders.” 

Grace repressed her annoyance as best she could. 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


“ I suppose it must be very valuable,’’ she remarked, 
lamely. 

“ Undoubtedly. Very valuable, as you say. Now 
that it is stolen, it must be recovered without delay. 
Monsieur Lefevre informs us here in Brussels that 
others have gone to London to recover it. Should 
they fail to do so — we believe that the persons who 
have committed the theft will come here.” 

« Why?” 

“ Because they are acting, we believe, in the im 
terests of a certain Dr. Hartmann, who is a resident 
of Brussels.” 

“ Why should this Dr. Hartmann want the box? ” 
asked Grace, somewhat mystified. 

“ That I am unable to tell you. He is an enemy 
of my country. He has many agents, and is a man 
of great power.” 

‘‘ But why don’t you arrest him? ” 

‘‘ Alas, mademoiselle, you do not understand. This 
Dr. Hartmann is a physician of great prominence. 
His cures of nervous and mental disorders have made 
him famous throughout Europe. He has in Brussels 
— just outside the city, a sanatorium, where he re- 
ceives and treats his patients. He is looked up to 
by all. His work as an, enemy of France is quite 
24 * 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


secret, known to but a few. Even we know very little 
about it.” 

“ Then how do you know that he had anything to 
do with the matter of this snuff box.?^ ” 

“ We do not know it — we only surmise. There is 
a reason, which I am not permitted at present to tell 
you, which causes Monsieur Lefevre to believe that 
Dr. Hartmann had a hand in this matter. It is for 
that reason, indeed, that he has sent you here.” 

“ What can I do.? ” 

“ I will tell you. For a long time we have tried 
to get one of our own agents into Dr. Hartmann’s 
house, but without success. He is very shrewd — 
very cautious. All his servants are countrymen of 
his, upon whom he knows he can depend. His pa- 
tients are people of wealth, position, standing, who, 
he knows, could not possibly be agents of the French 
police. He will take no others, and always insists 
upon the strictest references. It is for these rea- 
sons that we have failed. Now an opportunity pre- 
sents itself for you, mademoiselle, to accomphsh that 
which the police cannot accomplish. You are an 
American girl, of prominent family, of wealth, of posi- 
tion. I am informed that your aunt, by her second 
marriage, was the Countess d’Este. Should you 
25 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


apply to Dr. Hartmann for treatinent, you will have 
no difficulty in obtaining admission, for he could not, 
by any chance, think that Miss Grace EUicott, of New 
York, was in the employ of the French secret police. 
You observe, mademoiselle. Monsieur the Prefect’s ob- 
ject in sending you to Brussels? ” 

Grace nodded. She was beginning to feel a keen 
interest in the matter. But I am not ill,” she said, 
with a laugh. “ How can I ask Dr. Hartmann to 
treat me? ” 

‘‘We have thought of that. The matter has been 
under consideration ever since we were advised, early 
this afternoon, that you were coming. We have 
thought it best that you represent yourself to the 
doctor as a somnambulist.” 

“ A sleep walker ? ” 

“ Precisely. It is a form of nervous trouble which 
is by no means infrequent. We are informed that 
Dr. Hartmann has treated several such cases in the 
past. There are not symptoms, except a state of 
nervousness on the part of the patient which in your 
case it is probable the excitement of the enterprise 
will supply, and, of course, the tendency to walking 
in the sleep. This latter you must assume.” 

“ Assume? ” 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


Yes. You must pretend to be a somnambulist. 
You must get up, each night, at some hour, and 
wander about the house — pretending to be oblivious 
of all about you. You are not normally conscious. 
You are in a walking dream. Your eyes are fixed 
ahead — seeing no one. It wiU not be difficult for 
you to pretend all this — and naturally, by wandering 
about in this way, you may — we hope you will — 
have excellent opportunities to observe what goes on 
within the doctor’s walls.” 

“Is that all I am to do — just watch.? 

“ I think not. If we are unable, by other means, 
to prevent the stolen box from being delivered to Dr. 
Hartmann, it must be recovered from him, at any cost 
— at any cost whatever — ” the woman repeated, 
significantly. “ Even life itself cannot be spared, in 
this case. The box must he recovered, no matter what 
the price we pay — so we are informed by Monsieur 
Lefevre.” 

“ Then if it should pass into his possession, I may 
have to steal it.? Is that what you mean.? ” 

“ Undoubtedly, and at the very first opportunity.” 
The girl rose, gathered up the soiled towels which she 
had taken from the bedroom, and went toward the door. 
“ That is all, mademoiselle, except that you will com- 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


municate to us any news of importance by means of 
a young man who goes to the house each morning and 
evening to deliver bread. He comes in a small wagon, 
and you will no doubt be able to speak with him, 
as he enters or leaves the grounds. He is quite safe, 
and can be trusted. Address your communications 
to him verbally — no letters, understand ; they are al- 
ways dangerous. And now, let me suggest that you 
arrange to see Dr. Hartmann at once.” 

“But — he may require reference — credentials.” 

“We have thought of that, and have prepared the 
way. One of our men has ascertained that the United 
States Minister here is acquainted with you — that 
your family is known to him. Your aunt, you will 
remember, was quite prominent in society, in New 
York, at the time she married Monsieur the Count 
d’Este. Whether the Minister is acquainted with 
you personally, we have not been able to learn, but 
that he knows who you are, is certain.” 

“ Then I had best call upon him, and arrange for 
letters to Dr. Hartmann.” 

“ That is the best course. His house is near by. 
Take a cab at once, go to him, and state your errand. 
You will have no difficulty, I feel sure.” She noise- 
lessly opened the door, and in a moment was gone, 
28 


THE rVORY SNUFF BOX 


leaving Grace in a state of wonder. She did not 
waste much time, however, in speculating upon the 
curious affair in which she found herself involved, but 
putting on her hat, started off at once in search of the 
American Minister, 


CHAPTER III 


W HEN Richard Duvall and his companion en- 
tered the house of the French Ambassador in 
London, it was evident that their arrival was ex- 
pected. The detective had no more than given his 
name to the butler who threw open the door, when 
the latter, with a bow of recognition, conducted them 
to a small reception-room to the right of the entrance, 
and informed them that Monsieur de Grissac would 
see them at once. 

They did not have long to wait. The Ambassador, 
a thin, spare, nervous-looking man of sixty, with white 
hair and a gray-white mustache, came hurriedly into 
the room after but a few moments had elapsed, and 
greeting them excitedly, bade them be seated. He 
himself remained standing, his back to the fireplace, 
twirling his eyeglasses at the end of their black silk 
$ ribbon, and observing his visitors keenly. 

“ Monsieur Lefevre had informed me of your com- 
ing, gentlemen,” he presently burst out. “ We have 
no time to lose.” 


30 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


Let us have the details of the affair, monsieur,’^ 
Duvall remarked, seating himself comfortably in his 
chair. ‘‘ So far we are completely in the dark.” 

You know, do you not, that a valuable article, a 
small snuff box, to be exact — has been stolen from 
me ? ” 

“ Yes. Of that I have been informed,” the detect- 
ive remarked, dryly. “ I am curious to learn why 
the loss of an article of so trivial a nature should be 
regarded with such seriousness.” 

The Ambassador’s eyes snapped — he seemed al- 
most to resent the detective’s attitude. ‘‘ It should be 
sufficient, monsieur, I think, that it is so regarded. 
The task before us is to recover it — not discuss the 
reasons for doing so.” 

‘‘ I disagree with you, monsieur. If the real value 
of the stolen article is kept from me, how can I draw 
any conclusions as to the probable object of its theft.? 
Was it intrinsically valuable.? Did it contain any- 
thing of value.? In short, why should any one have 
taken the trouble to steal it.? Tell me that, and I can 
act intelligently. Otherwise, I shall be only groping 
about in the dark.” 

“ I do not think so, monsieur.” The Ambassador 
bent upon DuvaU a searching glance. “ The fact that 
31 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


the box is gone should be sufficient. All that I ask 
is that you recover it. You must trace its disappear- 
ance from the material facts of the case. Conjecture 
will avail us nothing.” 

“ Is the box then of no value? ” 

“ I have not said so. As a matter of fact, its value 
is great. It has been an heirloom in my family for 
many years. At one time it belonged to Cardinal 
Mazarin.” 

“ You think, then, that its intrinsic value alone 
might have prompted the theft? ” 

“ I think so — indeed, I very greatly hope so.” 

« Why? ” 

The Ambassador recovered himself with a start. 
Evidently he had said more than he intended. It was 
some time before he answered the question and then he 
did so lamely. “ Its theft by someone interested in 
its value as a curiosity would enable me to recover 
it most readily — by the payment, of course, of a sum 
of money.” 

“ True. But I assume, from what you say, that 
there might be other reasons; that it might have 
been taken by those who suspected that it had an- 
other value? ” 

For a moment Monsieur de Grissac appeared con- 

S2 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


fused. Then he waved his hand impatiently. 
“ There are those,” he said, ‘‘ who seek to injure me. 
They know that I prized this thing highly. Their 
^motive may have been — not money, but revenge. In 
that case, its recovery will be vastly more difficult.” 

Duvall saw that Monsieur de Grissac was not being 
frank with him, and for a moment he was conscious 
of a deep sense of annoyance. Monsieur Lefevre 
had, heretofore, invariably taken him into his con- 
fidence. He controlled his feelings, however, and ap- 
peared to be satisfied with the Ambassador’s expla- 
nations. ‘‘What did the box contain. Monsieur de 
Grissac,” he asked, pleasantly. 

“ A quantity of snuff, monsieur.” 

“ Nothing else.f’ ” 

“ Nothing.” 

“ Oh ! And you, monsieur, are in the habit of using 
snuff.? ” 

“ Yes. It is the only form in which I use tobacco. 
Old-fashioned, perhaps, but I belong to the older 
generation.” He straightened himself up suddenly. 
“ Let us proceed, gentlemen. I fear we are wasting 
valuable time.” 

Duvall nodded. “ Permit me to ask you a few 
more questions.” 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


I am at your service, monsieur.” 

‘‘ When did you last see the box? ” 

‘‘ This morning, at nine o’clock. I always carry 
it in the right-hand pocket of my waistcoat. To in- 
sure its safety, I had it attached to a long gold chain, 
which was securely fastened to the inside of the 
pocket. I rose this morning somewhat late, having 
attended a banquet last night. After having my 
coffee and rolls in my bedroom, I went to my dress- 
ing-room to be shaved. As I did so, I paused for a 
moment, drew the snuff box from the pocket of my 
white evening waistcoat, which my valet had hung in 
a closet the night before, and took a pinch of snuff 
from it. I then replaced it in the pocket and entered 
the dressing-room adjoining, where Noel, my man, 
was waiting for me. He proceeded to shave me as 
usual, and I began to dress. Upqn going to the 
closet in my bedroom to remove the box, and fasten 
it by means of the chain to the clasp in the pocket 
of the waistcoat I had just put on, I was amazed 
to find it gone. I at once summoned Noel — ” 

“ Summoned him? ” interrupted the detective. 
Was he not with you in the room? ” 

“ No. A few moments before — as soon, in fact, 

34 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


as I had completed dressing, he left the apartment 
to give some instructions to my chauffeur.” 

“ What did you do then? ” 

“ I at once rushed out into the hall, calling for 
Noel.” 

“ You believed, then, that he had taken the box? ” 

“ I could believe nothing else. No one but he had 
been in my rooms.” 

“ Oh ! I see. And you questioned him ? ” 

“ Yes. On reaching the hall I met one of the maids 
ascending the stairway. I called to her, asking if she 
had seen Noel. She had not. She had been in the 
servants’ hall — talking with the chauffeur — Noel 
had not been there.” 

‘‘What did you do then? ” 

“ I rushed to his room, which is on the floor above, 
thinking that, if he had taken the box, and proposed 
to deny the fact, he would have gone there to secrete 
it.” 

“ Would he not have been more likely to leave the 
house immediately since he knew you would discover 
your loss at once? ” 

“ No. He would realize that to flee would be to 
admit his guilt. He could not have gone more than 
35 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


a few hundred feet. Capture would have been in- 
evitable.” 

Did you find the man in the room? ” 

He was just leaving it as I came up.” 

“ What did you do then? ” 

“ I ordered him back into the room, and questioned 
him sharply. He denied all knowledge of the matter, 
and appeared to be deeply hurt at my suspicions.” 

“ Did you believe him? ” 

“ I do not know. The matter is incomprehensible. 
Noel has been in my service for eight years. I sup- 
posed him absolutely incorruptible — absolutely hon- 
est. He also insists that after I left the bedroom, 
and came into the dressing-room to be shaved, he did 
not leave me, nor again enter the bedroom; in which 
case, he could not have committed the theft.” 

“ Is this true? ” 

“ So far as I can remember, it is.” He spoke in 
a slightly hesitating way, and Duvall at once noticed 
it. “ You are, then, not absolutely sure? ” he asked. 

“ I feel confident that Noel did not leave me, nor 
enter the bedroom. If I hesitated for a moment, it 
arose from the fact that on one or two occasions 
I have fallen asleep while being shaved, but this morn- 
ing I am quite sure that I did not do so.” 

S6 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


“ Yet you were up late last night, and awoke feel- 
ing sleepy and tired.” 

“ Yes.” The Ambassador nodded. “ That is 
true.” 

Is there any other door to the bedroom ? ” 

None, except that which opens into my bath. 
The bath-room has no windows. It is an inside 
room.” 

“ And the bedroom.? ” 

“ It has two windows, facing upon the adjoining 
property. There is quite thirty feet of space between 
the two buildings and the windows are at least twenty- 
five feet from the ground.” 

“ What room is above ? ” 

A guest’s chamber, unused and locked.” 

Duvall rose and began to stride up and down the 
room, chewing viciously upon his unlighted cigar. 
‘‘ After you finished questioning the man, what did 
you do then.? ” 

“ I searched his room thoroughly, and made him 
turn out the contents of his pockets, his trunk and 
bureau drawers.” 

“ And you found — .? ” 

Nothing. That was before noon to-day. Since 
then, I have kept the man locked in his room, await- 
37 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


ing your coming. One of the other servants has re- 
mained on guard outside his door ever since.” 

“ You did not, then, notify the police.? ” 

No. The matter is one that, for reasons of my 
own, I do not wish to become public.” 

‘‘ Has anything been heard from your prisoner 
since this morning? ” 

‘‘ Yes. He asked for pen and ink about one o’clock 
this afternoon. I went up to see him, to find out 
why he wanted them. He seemed deeply affected, was 
almost in tears, and apparently afraid to meet my 
gaze. He said he wished to write a note, breaking 
an engagement he had had for this afternoon. He 
usually had Wednesday afternoons off. I permitted 
him to write the letter.” 

Duvall began to show signs of deep interest on hear- 
ing this. “ Where is it? ” he exclaimed. 

“ What, monsieur ? ” The Ambassador evidently 
did not follow him. 

“ The letter.” 

“ I sent it, of course.” 

‘‘ But you read it first? ” 

“ Yes. It was addressed to a man named Seitz, 
Oscar Seitz, if I recollect correctly, at a barber shop 
in Piccadilly Circus, which, as you know, is close by. 
38 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


This fellow Seitz was a friend of Noel’s, I have 
several times heard him speak of him. They were 
accustomed to spend their afternoons off together, I 
understand.” 

“And the note?” asked Duvall, impatientlj', 
“ What did it say ? ” 

“ Merely that Noel was unable to keep his appoint- 
ment for that afternoon, and did not expect to see 
his friend again before his departure. Seitz must 
have been planning some trip. The letter, as I re- 
member, was quite cool, almost unfriendly in its tone.” 

Duvall glanced at his watch. “ This was about 
one o’clock you say? ” 

“ Yes. The matter has no significance. We are 
wasting our time discussing it.” 

“ On the contrary, monsieur, I fear it may have 
had the greatest significance. That letter should 
never have been delivered. Even now, it may be too 
late to prevent the consequences. Be so good, mon« 
sieur, as to conduct me to this man Noel’s room at 
once.” He turned to Dufrenne. “ You will accom- 
pany us, of course, Monsieur Dufrenne,” he said, then 
followed the Ambassador toward the hall. 

In a few moments they reached the third floor of 
the house, and passed along a short hall which gave 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


entrance to a rear extension of the building, in which 
the servants’ quarters were located. At the entrance 
of the hall, a maid was seated upon a stool, read- 
ing a book. She rose as the others approached, and 
stood respectfully aside. 

“ Has anything been heard from Noel.? ” the Am- 
bassador asked. “ Has he asked for anything.? ” 

“ Nothing, monsieur. He has been quiet ever since 
six o’clock, when I took him his supper.” 

“ What was he doing when you entered .? ” 

“ Writing, monsieur. He was sitting at the table, 
with a pen in his hand, and he looked up and told 
me to put the tray on the trunk. ‘ I shall ask you 
to take this letter to Monsieur de Grissac as soon as 
I have finished it,’ he said. Since then I have heard 
nothing from him.” 

Duvall had preceded the Ambassador and Du- 
frenne to the door at the end of the short hall, and 
stood listening intently. In a moment, De Grissac 
came up, and, unlocking the door, threw it open. The 
room was dimly illuminated by a single candle, which 
smoked and guttered in its socket, apparently nearly 
burned out. Nothing was at first to be seen of the 
valet. Duvall stepped forward, then turned quickly 
40 



Duvall, dropping on one knee beside the body, felt for the man’s heart. 


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THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


and spoke. “ Shut the door, please,” he said in a 
tense voice. 

Dufrenne did so, while the Ambassador strode for- 
ward and f ollowed Duvall’s gaze with a look of horror. 
On the floor beside the bed, and to the far side of 
the room from the door, lay the body of the unfor- 
tunate valet, his face, ghastly pale, turned toward the 
ceiling. But it was neither the sight of the man lying 
there, apparently dead, nor the agonized expression 
of his face, which caused both the Ambassador and 
Duvall to start back with exclamations of surprise. 
Across the man’s lips was a great, dull-red blotch, 
which at first appeared to be a clot of blood, but 
which seemed, from its circular form and regular con- 
tour, more like a huge seal. And seal it was. Duvall, 
dropping on one knee beside the body, felt for the 
man’s heart, at the same time looking closely at the 
mark upon his lips. He was quite dead, and had ap- 
parently been so for an hour or two. The blot upon 
his face was a great lump of red sealing wax, tightly 
binding together his lips, and upon it was the coarse 
imprint of a man’s forefingers. 

The Ambassador shrank back with a cry, as his 
eyes fell upon the ghastly sight. Dufrenne gazed 
41 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


at the dead man impassively. Duvall, springing to 
his feet, went at once to the window at the rear of the 
room, which stood partly open, and raising it to its 
full extent, looked out. The others heard him give 
utterance to a low whistle, as he drew back into the 
room. 

“No one could have entered the room,” cried the 
Ambassador, in a frightened voice. “ It is thirty-five 
feet or more to the ground.” 

Duvall motioned to the window. “ Look out, monv 
fiieur,” he remarked, quietly. 

De Grissac did so, then uttered a sudden cry. 
From the window to the garden below stretched a long 
slender wooden ladder. “ It belongs to the men who 
have been repairing the rain spouting,” he exclaimed. 
“ They leave it in the garden, at night. I knew there 
was no way in which Noel could get out.” 

“ But clearly a way, monsieur, by which others 
could get in,” said Duvall, quietly, as he began a 
minute examination of the room. 

“ But the snuff box — do you think it has been 
taken away ? ” 

“ Undoubtedly, monsieur. I suspected as much, 
when you showed me the man’s letter. Your servant, 
I have no doubt, took the box while shaving you this 
42 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


morning. You doubtless dozed off, thus giving him 
the opportunity. He did not know that you had taken 
snuff from the box this morning shortly after arising, 
and imagined, no doubt, that you would suppose you 
had lost it some time the night before. This would 
relieve him of any suspicion. He hurried off to his 
room to secrete the box, meaning to deliver it to this 
friend of his, Oscar Seitz, during the afternoon. His 
arraignment by you, his subsequent imprisonment, no 
doiibt frightened him and filled him with remorse 
— hence his rather unfriendly letter to Seitz. He had 
repented of his bargain, and was doubtless engaged in 
preparing a confession, telling you of his crime, and 
the reasons therefor, when the murderer entered the 
room. 

“ The latter, who probably was this man Seitz, 
must have become alarmed by the tone of Noel’s let- 
ter. He was, it seems clear, planning some trip away 
from London, upon which he was about to leave. He 
meant to take the snuff box with him. Upon re- 
ceiving Noel’s letter he determined to see him and 
demand the box, if he found the latter had secured 
it. No doubt he made inquiries from some of the 
servants, on calling to see Noel, and was informed that 
he was confined to his room. He then pretended t<^ 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


leave, but in reality, ascended to the room by means 
of the ladder he found in the garden, while the serv- 
ants were at dinner. It was a desperate chance, but 
he took it. Upon arriving in the room, he found 
Noel engaged in preparing his confession, insisted 
upon reading it, then realizing that his confederate 
was about to play him false, killed him, after gain- 
ing possession of the box, and departed.” 

The Ambassador uttered a groan. “ My God,” 
he moaned, I am lost ! ” 

Defrenne, who meanwhile had been making a care- 
ful examination of the dead valet’s body, rose with 
a mystified expression upon his face. There are 
no wounds upon the body at all. Monsieur Duvall,” 
he said. “ How can you account for this man’s 
death F ” 

Duvall stooped, and repeated the examination which 
his companion had just made. “ You are right,” he 
said. “ The case is a most mysterious one.” 

“ At least we can identify the murderer by the 
finger print upon the seal,” De Grissac remarked, 
eagerly. 

“ I’m afraid not. Tliis man Seitz cannot be quite 
a fool. Look ! ” He held up the forefinger of 
the dead man’s right hand, upon which was a dull 
44j 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


red burn, with bits of the red sealing wax about the 
nail. ‘‘ He wasn’t taking any chances.” He let the 
already stiffening arm fall, and continued his exam- 
ination of the body. ‘‘ The method by which the man 
was killed,” he remarked slowly, “ is not yet clear 
to me. Certain finger prints on the throat indicate 
that he might have been strangled, but they are hardly 
deep or extensive enough for that. I fancy they 
would have resulted in temporary unconsciousness 
only. No — there is another reason — although 
what it is — ” He paused as his eyes lit upon a thin 
shining object on the floor beside the table. “ Oh, 
this may tell us something.” He picked up the 
thing, which the others saw at once to be a large 
scarf pin, and examined it carefully. 

‘‘ Did this belong to your servant. Monsieur de 
Grissac,” he asked, holding the pin up to the light. 

“ Yes.” The Ambassador glanced at the pin care- 
lessly. “ It was one of my own that I had given 
him, some months ago.’^ 

Duvall laid the scarf pin carefully upon the table, 
then went to the body on the floor, turned it over 
and made a careful examination of the back of the 
neck. He held the candle close, pushing aside the 
man’s thin sandy hair. Presently he rose and placed 
45 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


the candle on the table beside the pin. This was 
what your servant was killed with, Monsieur de Gris- 
sac,” he said, as he indicated the scarf pin with his 
finger. “ It was thrust violently into the spine, at 
the base of the brain. Only a tiny blood spot re- 
mains to tell the tale. This fellow Seitz is a shrewd 
customer.” 

“We do not even know that it was he who com- 
mitted the crime. There is no real evidence against 
anyone. The snuff box may still be here. I insist 
that you make a thorough search.” 

“ It would be useless, monsieur,” Duvall remarked 
with a faint smile. “ The box must have been on the 
table when the murderer entered the room.” 

“ Why.? ” 

“ Because otherwise he would have searched for it, 
and you would have found everything in disorder. 
Believe me, monsieur, your servant had repented of 
his theft, and was about to return the box to you 
— it was that which caused his death. The seal upon 
his lips is a gruesome joke — silence — his lips are 
sealed — he can tell nothing.” 

“ Seitz must be arrested at once,” the Ambassador 
cried, in a rage. 


46 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


“ So far, monsieur, there is not the slightest evi- 
dence against him. Further, it is my opinion that 
he will leave London at once. Tell me the name of 
the shop in Piccadilly Circus where he was employed, 
and we will lose no further time in getting on his 
trail.” 

The Ambassador was not entirely certain of the 
location of the shop. He had never visited it. The 
name, he remembered, was given in the note as Per- 
rier. The note had been delivered by one of the 
servants ; he could tell where, and to whom he had 
delivered it. 

Duvall recommended to the Ambassador that he 
report the murder to the police at once, but requested 
that no mention be made of the presence of himself 
and Monsieur Dufrenne. ‘‘We should be held as 
witnesses,” he cautioned Monsieur de Grissac, “ and 
that would seriously interfere with our plans. Let 
us interview the servant who took the letter at 
once.” 

The latter, a groom, was soon disposed of. He 
gave the number and location of the barber shop in 
Piccadilly Circus, a short distance away, and reported 
that he had handed the message to a dark, smooth- 

47 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


shaven man at the second chair. He did not know 
Seitz, but the proprietor had pointed him out in re- 
sponse to his inquiries. His description of the man 
was vague and unsatisfactory; he was unable to give 
any further information on the subject. Investiga- 
tions as to anyone having made inquiries at the serv- 
ants’ entrance during the evening, regarding Noel, 
elicited the information that a heavily built, dark man, 
smooth-shaven, had called about half -past seven, and 
upon being informed that the valet was confined to 
his room and could not be seen, had disappeared. No 
one had taken any particular notice of his coming 
or going. 

When the party had once more assembled in the 
reception-room, Duvall turned to Monsieur de Gris- 
sac. “ There is nothing more to be accomplished 
here, monsieur,” he remarked, quietly. “We will get 
after this fellow Seitz at once, and I trust that 
before long the missing snuff box will be returned to 
you.” 

The Ambassador shook hands with his guests, in a 
state of extreme agitation. “ Lose no time,” he 
urged. “ You must recover the box before the thief 
has an opportunity to turn it over to those who are 
back of him, else it will be too late. I shall pray for 
48 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


your success.” He stood at the door as his guests 
departed, shaking as though with a palsy. ‘‘ It is a 
matter of greater moment than life itself. I trust you 
will not fail.” 


49 


CHAPTER IV 


R ichard DUVALL, accompanied by the silent 
little curio dealer, left the home of the French 
Ambassador and walked rapidly to the barber shop 
of Alphonse Perrier in Piccadilly Circus. They 
found the place without difficulty, a large and evi- 
dently prosperous establishment, located on the 
ground floor of a building, the upper rooms of which 
were devoted to business offices. A large plate glass 
window in front bore the sign, “Alphonse Perrier, 
Tonsorial Parlors.” 

The detective and his companion walked slowly past 
the brightly lighted window, their eyes taking in the 
details of the interior of the place. It was now close 
to ten o’clock, but the street was filled with pedes- 
trians, and there were still one or two customers in 
the shop. At the first chair toward the door stood 
a large pasty-faced man, with a mop of bushy black 
hair, who was engaged in trimming a young man’s 
mustache. The second chair was occupied by a man 
50 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


who was being shaved. The fellow who was shaving 
him answered in a general way to the descriptions of 
Seitz given by the Ambassador’s servants. The third 
chair was unoccupied, and the man in charge of it, 
as well as those at the remaining two chairs, were en- 
gaged in putting away their razors and brushes, pre- 
paratory to leaving. It was evident that the closing 
hour was near at hand. 

Duvall turned to his companion, “ Monsieur De- 
frenne,” he said, ‘‘ will you enter at once and take 
the third chair? Keep your eyes and ears open, and 
see what you can learn. I will wait here in the shadow 
of the next doorway. Our man is evidently inside. 
He will soon be leaving the shop. If he does so, be- 
fore you do, I shall follow him. In that event, re- 
turn to Monsieur de Grissac’s house and wait there 
for word from me.” 

Dufrenne felt his stubbly beard. “ It is fortunate, 
monsieur, that I have not been shaved since Monday,” 
he said, as he entered the shop. 

The man in charge of the third chair looked at him 
with a sulky expression as he took his seat. His 
companions grinned. Evidently he had not expected 
another customer before the closing hour. He began 
to shave the little old Frenchman with careless haste. 
51 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


The latter lay in his chair, with half-closed eyes, pre- 
tending to doze. In reality he was watching every 
movement of the man next to him. 

The customer who occupied the second chair was a 
small, thin man, with sandy hair and a bony face. 
His eyes, rather prominent, under sparse red eyebrows, 
were closed as though in sleep. He was not paying 
the slightest attention to his surroundings, taking no 
notice whatever of Seitz, who was going over his face 
in a stolid and methodical way. There seemed noth- 
ing about either of them to attract attention — and 
Dufrenne began to wonder whether they might not 
after all be upon a false scent. The man Seitz showed 
neither haste nor nervousness in his movements — if 
he was in a hurry to finish his work for the evening, 
and leave the place, he certainly did not show it. 

After a time, Dufrenne observed that the thin man 
in the chair next to him had opened his eyes, and was 
feeling his jaw with much satisfaction. ‘‘ A very 
good shave, my good fellow,” he said, in excellent 
English, without a trace of any foreign accent. 
“ What powder was that you used, may I ask? ” 

Dufrenne, who was observing Seitz carelessly, saw 
a sudden change come over him. His eyes lit up with 
52 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


interest, and a slight flush overspread his face. There 
seemed nothing in so simple a question to arouse him 
in this way, and Dufrenne watched him carefully, his 
senses keenly alert for anything of interest. To his 
disappointment, Seitz’s answer was of the most com- 
monplace character. “ It is a special kind, which 
Monsieur Perrier has made for him, after his own 
formula. ‘ Poudre Perrier,’ it is called.” He turned 
to the case behind him, opened a drawer and brought 
forth a round cardboard box. “ Eightpence is the 
price. Would you like to try a box? ” He extended 
the package toward his customer, who had risen and 
was adjusting his scarf at the mirror. 

The man turned and glanced carelessly at the 
box. ‘‘ Oh, you might wrap it up. I shave myself, 
occasionally, when I’m traveling. Eightpence, you 
say ? ” 

‘‘ Yes, sir.” Seitz turned to the case and began to 
do up the package in a piece of brown paper. In a 
few moments he turned and handed it to his cus- 
tomer, who had drawn on his coat, and was preparing 
to leave the place. Dufrenne saw him put his hand 
into his pocket and draw out some money, which he 
handed to Seitz. The latter nodded gravely and 
53 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


placed it in his pocket. The thin-faced man did the 
same with the package, then left the shop. There 
was nothing in the least suspicious about the whole 
transaction, and the little Frenchman contented him- 
self with observing Seitz as he put away his brushes 
and prepared to stop work for the day. Once he saw 
the man draw something from his pocket and glance 
hurriedly at it, but his back was toward the chair 
in which Dufrenne sat, and he could not see what it 
was. A sense of uneasiness filled him, however, as 
the man who was shaving him drew away the sheet 
from about his shoulders and stepped back to allow 
him to rise. 

He made his way to the street as quickly as possible. 
Seitz was still occupied in putting away his shaving 
implements. 

On reaching the pavement, Dufrenne turned and 
walked rapidly toward Charing Cross. He did not 
wish to j oin Duvall in sight of those within. He had 
taken but a few paces when the latter caught up to 
him. “ What did you learn ” the detective asked, 
quickly. 

Dufrenne related in a few words what had occurred 
in the shop. He failed to note the excitement with 
54 


THE IVORY SNUFF T50X 


which the detective listened to his story. It may 
have been the snuff box,” Duvall cried, moving for- 
ward rapidly in his excitement. “ A clever scheme, 
I must say.” He looked about eagerly for the man 
who had left the shop so short a time before, but he 
had disappeared in the darkness. If you could only 
have warned me in some way.” 

It was impossible, monsieur,” said Dufrenne much 
crestfallen. “ I could not leave the chair until the 
man had finished shaving me.” 

“ Of course not,” replied Duvall, uncertain what 
course to pursue next. “ The man went in this direc- 
tion. I noticed him particularly. Perhaps if I were 
to hurry I might overtake him.” He started forward. 
“ You stay here and watch Seitz. If I do not return, 
report to me at Monsieur de Grissac’s.” He turned 
and disappeared in the crowd. 

Dufrenne went slowly back to the neighborhood of 
the shop, and stood in the shadow of the doorway, 
waiting. Presently he observed two of the assistants, 
in street clothes, leave the place and hurry off into 
the darkness. Neither of them was Seitz. The lights 
in the shop began to go out. Another assistant left. 
Only Seitz and the proprietor now remained within. 
55 

» 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


He crept toward the window, and cautiously looked 
inside. Monsieur Perrier stood before one of the 
mirrors, arranging his bushy hair. There Wds no one 
else m the shop. 


56 


CHAPTER V 


G race DUVALL arrived at the house of the 
American Minister at about half-past five, and 
luckily found him at home. From the maid at the 
hotel she had learned that his name was Phelps, Austin 
Phelps, and she at once recognized it as that of a 
lawyer prominent in business and social circles in New 
York. That he should know her, at least by name, 
was not at all surprising — her aunt, prior to her 
marriage to Count d’Este, had been much courted 
on account of both her beauty and her wealth. She 
waited in the handsome drawing-room to which she 
had been conducted, nervously wondering what the 
nature of her reception would be. The card she had 
given to the servant was one of her own — in fact, 
she remembered with a smile that her marriage to 
Richard Duvall but a few hours before had so filled 
her mind and heart that she had completely forgotten 
to have any cards prepared setting forth her new 
estate. It was as Grace Ellicott that the Minister 
would know her, however, and her business in Brussels 
57 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


made it desirable that she should pose as a single 
woman. It was not at all difficult, she thought to 
herself, under the circumstances. 

Mr. Phelps, the Minister, proved to be a rubicund, 
rather portly gentleman, with white side whiskers and 
an air of urbane courtesy that set her at her ease at 
once. She told him who she was, hopefully, and was 
delighted to find that he placed her at once. 

“ Margaret EUicott’s niece,” he said with a pleasant 
smile, offering his hand. My dear girl, I’m de- 
lighted to meet you. I knew your aunt well, years 
ago, when you were going about in short dresses. I 
lost sight of her, after she married D’Este, and went 
to Paris to live. It was only the other day that I 
learned of her death. She was a fine woman. Mrs. 
Phelps and myself were both very fond of her. 
Won’t you take a seat and tell me what you are doing 
in Brussels.'^ ” 

Grace sat down, and at once plunged into her story. 
‘‘ I have suffered a great deal, lately, Mr. Phelps,” 
she began, from nervousness. I’ve been living in 
Paris, you know, and many things have happened 
to upset me. You have heard, of course, of the 
Count d’Este’s treatment of me, and of his arrest 
and conviction ” 


58 


THE IVORY SNUFE BOX 


“ Yes.” He nodded gravely. “ I do not wonder 
that you feel upset.” 

Of late I have suffered a great deal from attacks 
of sleep walking. I get up at night and wander about, 
without knowing what I am doing. One night, I went 
out on the balcony and nearly walked off into the 
street.” She lied bravely, hoping that her story 
would appear plausible. 

“ Too bad,” Mr. Phelps remarked, evidently some- 
what surprised that she should confide such matters 
to him. “ You are under treatment, of course.” 

“No — that is, not at present. No one in Paris 
has been able to do me any good. I have heard so 
much of Dr. Hartmann and his marvelous success 
with all sorts of mental and nervous troubles that I 
have decided to consult him. That is why I came to 
Brussels.” 

“ I see. Well — he’s a splendid man. You 
couldn’t do better. I know him very well, and like 
him immensely. A thorough scientist. Have you 
seen him, yet.^* ” 

“ No. I — I understood that he does not care to 
take patients without references as to their standing, 
financial and otherwise.” 

“ My dear girl, you would have no trouble. Of 

59 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


course he is overrun with patients — and as his sana- 
torium is a small one, he is obliged to charge large 
fees and take only the best and wealthiest class. He 
is an investigator, rather than a practitioner, and 
for that reason is obliged to guard his time.” 

“ Then may I ask that you will give me a letter 
to him? ” Grace said, hesitatingly. 

“ Certainly. I’ll do it gladly. W^hen do you in- 
tend to call on him? ” 

“ I thought of going at once.” 

“ Then I’ll do better than give you a letter. I’ll 
call him up b}’^ telephone and make an appointment 
for you. Say in half an hour. It will take you about 
twenty minutes to drive to his place. Will that be 
convenient? ” 

“ Perfectly, Mr. Phelps, and thank you very 
much.” 

“ Nonsense, my dear girl. Only too happy to do 
it for you. You must come and meet Mrs. Phelps, 
later on, and dine with us. Just at present she is out, 
taldng tea with some friends. I want you to know 
her.” He rose and started toward the door. “ Ex- 
cuse me for a few moments, while I telephone the doc- 
tor.” 

Grace, left alone, could not help regretting the de- 

60 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


ceit she had been obliged to practise upon her aunt’s 
old friend, but there seemed to be no help for it. She 
only hoped that nothing would occur, subsequently, 
to involve the latter in any disagreeable explanations. 

Mr. Phelps returned to the drawing-room in a few 
moments, his face weathed in smiles of satisfaction. 
“ You’re lucky,” he said. Dr. Hartmann tells me 
that he can accommodate you at once, as he discharged 
one of his patients, cured, only this morning. If you 
propose to remain at his house for treatment, which 
would be the only satisfactory way, I would suggest 
that you drive around by way of your hotel and ar- 
range to have your baggage sent at once. I have writ- 
ten the address, and a few words to the doctor, on this 
card. Any of the cab drivers will know it, of course. 
Dr. Hartmann is one of the most prominent men in 
Brussels. I wish you good luck in your stay at his 
place, and whenever you are in the city, come in 
and have luncheon. Mrs. Phelps will be delighted.” 
He led the way to the door, and ushered the girl into 
her cab. “ Glad I was able to be of service to you,” 
he said, as she drove off. ‘‘ Good-evening.” 

When Grace entered the office of Dr. Hartmann, she 
was quite conscious of the fact that it would not be 
necessary for her to pretend to be nervous. In fact 
61 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


she felt herself turning hot and cold with fear, and 
wondered whether she would have the courage to play 
the part which had been so unexpectedly thrust upon 
her. 

The place itself was pleasant and attractive enough 
in appearance. It consisted of a large stone building, 
with a mansard roof, set back some hundred or more 
yards from the street, and surrounded by a small 
park, filled with trees and shrubbery. A well-kept 
gravel driveway lead from the gate to the main en- 
trance, which opened into a large hall. She observed 
as she came in, a sort of parlor, or reception-room, to 
the right, handsomely furnished in rather an old-fash- 
ioned style, with a large marble mantel and fireplace 
at one end of it. In the latter a blaze of cannel coal 
lit up the room with a pleasant radiance. It was not 
yet dark without, and the lights in the reception room 
were unlit, although a lamp was burning in the hall. 

The maid who admitted her, a pleasant-faced Ger- 
man woman of middle age, conducted her into the 
reception-room, and taking her card, disappeared down 
the hall. In a few moments she returned, and nodding 
to Grace, opened a door at the left of the hall and 
bade her enter. 

She found herself in the doctor’s office, a large room, 

62 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


furnished in leather. A table in the center contained 
a lamp, and many magazines and papers. There was 
no one in the room when she entered, but before she 
had time to select a chair, a door at the rear of the 
room opened, and Dr. Hartmann came in. 

He was a man of powerful build, and gave one the 
impression of great size, although not in reahty above 
medium height. His shoulders, however, were very 
broad and thick, his neck short and powerful, his 
head large, with heavy iron-gray hair. A short beard 
of the same color covered the lower part of his face, 
while through a pair of gold-rimmed spectacles his 
eyes shone with piercing brightness. Grace thought, 
as he came toward her, that she had seldom seen a 
more striking-looking man. 

“ Be seated, miss,” he said, addressing her in Eng- 
lish, though with a decided accent. “ You are Miss 
Grace EUicott, I believe.” He glanced at the card 
which he held in his hand. 

“ Yes,” said Grace, nervously taking a seat. 

“ Mr. Phelps tells me you suffer from somnambu- 
lism,” the doctor went on. “ How long have you ob- 
served the symptoms ” 

‘‘ About six months,” answered Grace, steadily. 

“ Are the occurrences frequent.? ” 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


Yes. Almost every night.” 

“ Had you experienced any great shock, about the 
time these manifestations began? ” 

Yes. My aunt, whom I loved very dearly, had 
died.” 

Oh ! And when you walk in your sleep, do you 
seem to see her? ” 

Grace reflected over this question for several mo- 
ments. Then she recollected that persons given to 
somnambulism never remember their experiences. 
“ No. I have no recollection of what occurs.” 

The doctor’s face was lit with a satisfied smile. He 
came over to Grace, drew apart the lids of one of her 
eyes and gazed into it, looked at her hands critically, 
felt her pulse for a moment, then asked suddenly, 
“ Have you ever been placed under the influence of 
hypnosis ? ” 

She trembled. If this man were to hypnotize her, 
as she was perfectly certain that he could, he might 
force her to tell him everything, and thereby endanger 
the success of the whole plan. “ No,” she replied, 
firmly. I should not care for it.” 

“ It is a method of treatment, miss, which I use a 
great deal.” 

“ I hope it will not be necessary, doctor, to use it 

64 < 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


upon me. I have always had a horror of being hypno- 
tized. Please do not attempt it.” 

‘‘ Very well, miss,” the doctor laughed. “ It may 
not be necessary. Before we go further with your 
case, I shall want to observe it carefully for a few 
days. You understand my terms, of course.” The 
doctor named a large sum. ‘‘ So much each week, 
and an additional charge for my services, depending 
upon the nature of the case.” 

Grace nodded, although the amount was suflSciently 
large to stagger her. “ I shall gladly pay what you 
ask,” she said, “ if you can only cure me.” She 
rose as the doctor stepped to the side of the room 
and pressed an electric button. 

‘‘ You can go to your room at once. Miss Ellicott,” 
the doctor went on. One of the maids will conduct 
you. Your meals will be served there, or you can 
eat in the large dining-room, as you prefer. There 
are only twenty other patients. Some of them you 
might find very agreeable. Make yourself thor- 
oughly at home. There are many excellent books 
in the library, and you will perhaps wish to walk in 
the grounds, or visit your friends in the city. The 
nature of your case is such that no particular regi- 
men, no rules of health are necessary. Remember, 
65 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


however, that we close the gates of the park at sun- 
down. I will see you again, this evening, and bring 
you some medicine. It is merely a sedative, to quiet 
your nerves. It is not possible to do much for com- 
plaints such as yours, by means of drugs.” He 
turned, as a quiet, pleasant-faced woman opened the 
door. Anna,” he said to her in German, “ con- 
duct Miss Ellicott to her room, and make her com- 
fortable.” 

Not wishing to endure the ordeal of dining with 
strangers, Grace decided to have her dinner served 
in her room. She found it excellent, and very well 
cooked. After dinner she sat in an easy chair by 
the large electric lamp and read a book she had 
brought with her. 

At ten o’clock Dr. Hartmann came in, and asked 
her a few more questions, gave the nurse a small bot- 
tle containing a dark brown liquid and instructed her 
as to administering it, then said good-night and went 
out. Grace threw down her book, and announced 
that she was ready to retire. The maid assisted her 
to undress, gave her a few drops of the medicine in 
a small glass of sherry, put out the light, and de- 
parted, informing Grace that she would be in the hall, 
within call, if the latter wished anything. 

66 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


In spite of the medicine which she had taken, Grace 
was far too nervous and excited to fall asleep. She 
realized the daring nature of the game she had been 
called upon to play, and for a moment her spirits 
sank and she felt a sense of fear. Thoughts of 
Richard, however, soon restored her courage. She 
would face any danger to serve him. How different 
from what she had imagined, was this, her first night 
of married life! Instead of lying in Richard’s arms, 
on board the steamer bound for America, here she 
was, a patient in a sanatorium in Brussels. The 
thing seemed unreal — impossible. 

After a while, the noises of the house ceased one 
by one. As midnight struck, all was dark and silent. 
Only the faint sound of the wind among the trees 
in the park came to her ears. She wondered whether 
it was necessary for her to pretend to walk in her 
sleep this night — in order that the doctor might 
feel that her case was a real one. She rose softly, 
undecided, and going to the window, looked out. 

The room in which she then was, occupied a posi- 
tion at the rear of the building, and in one of its two 
wings. From the center of the main building she 
observed a covered passageway, or bridge, extend- 
ing out for perhaps a hundred feet and terminating 

67 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


in a sort of square tower. In one of the rooms in 
the tower, on a level with herself, she saw lights, and 
the figure of a man moving about. 

The place attracted her attention. She wondered 
what its use could be. Then an inspiration struck 
her. The covered bridge ran from the main hall 
not thirty feet from her own door. She determined 
to cross it, pretending to be walking in her sleep, 
and find out what she could regarding the brick 
tower. When the time came, she knew that all the 
information she could possess about the house and 
its occupants would be necessary to the success of her 
plans. 

*~"”^he threw about her a dressing-gown, and quietly 
opened her door. The maid was nowhere to be seen, 
but doubtless she would shortly return. The chair 
upon which she had been sitting, at the point where 
the side and main halls met, stood directly beneath 
the electric light. No doubt, Grace thought, she had 
been called away for a few moments by one of 
the other patients on the floor. 

Now was her chance. She stepped noiselessly down 
the cross hall, her eyes wide open and hands clenched 
at her sides. At the junction of the two halls she 
turned to the right, toward a door which, she judged, 
68 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


gave entrance to the covered way. She found this 
unlocked, opened it, entered the passageway and 
closed the door behind her. Then she began to walk 
slowly along the bridge. 

It was a narrow structure, not exceeding five feet 
in width, with top and sides of corrugated metal, 
and a floor of wooden planks. At the far end of 
it she perceived a glass door, behind which shone a 
brilliant light. 

She approached tlie door cautiously, keeping up 
all the while the pretense of walking in her sleep. 
This was not easy — she did not know just how per- 
sons who were somnambulists acted, but she had read 
descriptions of such cases, and had once seen a play 
in which one of the characters was a sleep walker. 
She tried to give her eyes a vacant, unseeing expres- 
sion, and fearlessly approached the door. 

It stood slightly ajar, and through the glass 
panels she saw at once that the room was Dr. Hart- 
mann’s laboratory. She arrived at this conclusion 
from the various medical appliances which stood about 
the room, the uses of which she did not know. Her 
inspection of the room, however, was but momentary, 
for two figures, brightly illuminated by an over- 
hanging cluster of electric lights, at once attracted 
69 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


her attention. One of these was Dr. Hartmann. He 
sat at a large, flat-topped desk, his profile toward the 
door, examining with great care a mass of papers 
which lay on the desk before him. His forehead was 
wrinkled with thought, and an expression of anger 
dominated his face. 

At the other side of the desk sat a tall spare man, 
with a military-looking carriage, and a fierce blond 
mustache, which he was gnawing uneasily. The two 
figures sat silent for several moments, no word pass- 
ing between them, while Grace watched intently. 
Presently she heard the doctor speak. “ It took you 
two years, it seems, to find out that Monsieur de Gris- 
sac uses snuff.” 

The other nodded. ‘‘ One year and ten months, 
to be exact.” 

“ And now,” the doctor went on, angrily, “ you 
trust everything to a stranger.” 

“ It is better so, is it not? The affair is dangerous. 
Neither you, nor I, can afford to be mixed up in it.” 

Doctor Hartmann brought his fist down upon the 
desk with a bang. “ Gott in Himmel! ” he roared. 
“We must take some risks, my friend. I tell you 
I must have De Grissac’s snuff box without further 
70 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


delay. If that does not solve the problem, we are 
at the end of our rope.” 

‘‘ It will solve it,” the other man replied imper- 
turbably. “ I have positive assurances to that effect. 
Furthermore, I have every reason to believe that we 
shall hear from London before the end of the week.” 

“ Have you received any word ? ” the doctor in- 
quired eagerly. 

“ Yes. The attempt was to be made either to-day 
or to-morrow. Our man will report to you at once. 
He knows nothing of the matter, of course. He will 
deliver the box to you, and receive the money.” 

“ Who is the fellow.? ” 

“ I do not know his name. I have not seen him, 
myself. Gratz arranged everything in London. I 
considered it very important that nothing should oc- 
cur which would connect us with the matter in any 
way. Monsieur de Grissac will discover his loss very 
quickly and will use every effort to prevent the box 
from falling into our hands. Gratz and the others 
would invite suspicion at once. The fellow they have 
chosen to handle the matter is unknown to the French 
police. Fie will attract no attention. The plan ap- 
pears to be perfect.” 


71 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


The doctor nodded slowly, chewing on his cigar. 

I hope you are right, Mayer,” he said, and looked 
at his watch. 

As he finished speaking, Grace heard someone ap- 
proaching her from behind, but she paid no atten- 
tion. In a moment the attendant touched her lightly 
on the arm. She turned, gazing at the woman with 
staring, unseeing eyes. The latter looked at her 
keenly, then began to lead her along the bridge toward 
the main building. 

When they reached her bedroom, the nurse turned 
on the lights suddenly, glancing at Grace’s face as 
she did so. The girl did not dare even to blink her 
eyes. “ Sit down,” the woman commanded, sharply. 
Grace sank upon the edge of the bed. “ Take off 
your shoes,” the nurse went on, in a stern voice. The 
girl had slipped on a pair of bedroom slippers — 
she proceeded to remove them mechanically, fumbling 
with them as though trying to unfasten tlie laces of 
a pair of shoes. Now your dress,” the nurse or- 
dered. Grace began awkwardly to remove the dress- 
ing-gown she had thrown about her. When the 
woman told her sharply to get into bed, she did so 
without a word, apparently quite unconscious of what 
she was doing. It was a splendid piece of acting, 
7 £ 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


and she did it so well that if the nurse had any doubts 
as to the reality of her somnambulistic condition 
they were at once dispelled. As soon as the girl 
placed her head upon the pillows, she pretended to be 
sound asleep, her eyes closed, her breathing regular 
and slow. After a time, the attendant put out the 
light and left the room. 

The girl lay still for hours, wondering what there 
was in the strange conversation she had overheard 
that could help Richard in his efforts to recover the 
stolen snuff box. That it had been stolen she knew ; 
that it had not yet been delivered to Dr. Hartmann 
she also knew. Perhaps Richard might have suc- 
ceeded in recovering it before now; if not, the mes- 
senger bringing it to the doctor’s office would 
undoubtedly arrive the next day. She determined to 
rise early, in order that she might, if possible, send 
word of what she had heard to Brussels by means 
of the young man who drove the dehvery wagon. 


7S 


CHAPTER VI 


W HEN Richard Duvall left Dufrenne, the curia 
dealer, in Piccadilly Circus, and started after 
the man who had purchased the box of powder in the 
barber shop, he realized to the full the hopelessness 
of his task. The man had left the shop at least twa 
minutes before Dufrenne came out — perhaps more, 
and another minute had been consumed by the latter 
in telling his story. Three minutes’ start, in a 
crowded street at night, was a handicap which the de- 
tective could scarcely hope to overcome. 

He hurried along in the general direction the fel- 
low had taken, trying to form in his mind a clear 
picture of his appearance. In the dim light before 
the shop he had not been able to observe him closely, 
nor had there, indeed, appeared any very good rea- 
son for doing so; he had thought the man but a be- 
lated customer of the place and had barely glanced 
at him. 

His experience in summing up at a glance the gen- 
eral characteristics of those he met, however, stood him 
74 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


in good stead — he remembered that the man had 
worn a long brown overcoat, a derby hat, and car- 
ried in his hand a small satchel. The latter, which 
Dufrenne had failed to mention, indicated a traveler 
— the man’s words to Seitz, on purchasing the box 
of powder, seemed to confirm it. The man had 
walked, apparently, instead of taking a cab. Char- 
ing Cross station was but a short distance away. 
What more natural, Duvall reasoned, than that the 
man he was following was on his way to take a 
train.? 

Following this line of reasoning, the detective 
walked hastily in the direction of Charing Cross, 
dodging in and out among the passers-by, and eying 
keenly everyone he met, in the hope that he might 
discover the man with the satchel. He was, how- 
ever, doomed to disappointment. After spending 
over fifteen minutes in Charing Cross station, watch- 
ing the crowds at the booking offices, the telegraph 
and telephone booths and the restaurant, he concluded 
that he had been mistaken in his course of reasoning 
and reluctantly turned his steps once more toward 
the shop of M. Perrier. There was, of course, still 
the chance that his deductions had been wrong. 
Seitz might still have the snuff box in his possession, 
75 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


and the man with the satchel be merely a harmless 
individual who used rice powder after shaving. He 
almost reproached himself for having wasted so much 
time, and hurried along through Piccadilly Circus, 
in a state of considerable perplexity. 

As he came up to the shop, he saw Dufrenne stand- 
ing before the window, his eyes glued to the pane. 
Something in his astonished expression attracted the 
detective’s attention at once. He tapped the curio 
dealer lightly on the shoulder. 

Dufrenne turned suddenly, much startled, then 
recognizing Duvall, drew him to one side. “ I have 
watched the door every minute since you left,” he 
said in a trembling voice. “ Seitz did not come out 
— yet he is not inside. No one is there but Monsieur 
Perrier.” 

Duvall started back with a muttered exclamation. 
“You — you must be mistaken,” he cried. 

“Look!” The Frenchman pointed to the win- 
dow. Duvall glanced within. The proprietor of the 
place was its only occupant. 

The detective turned to his companion and nodded. 
“ Come inside,” he said, shortly, and striding up to 
the door, threw it open and entered the place. 

Monsieur Perrier, startled half out of his wits by 

76 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


the suddenness with which Duvall entered the room, 
dropped the comb with which he had been arranging 
his hair and turned with an alarmed face. The 

shop — it is closed for the night,” he said. My 

men have all gone home.” 

“ Has Seitz gone? ” asked Duvall, sharply. 

“ Seitz ? Surely. He left immediately after 
shaving this gentleman.” Perrier indicated Dufrenne 
with a fat and trembling forefinger. ‘‘ Is anything 
wrong, gentlemen? Was the shave not satisfactory ? ” 

Duvall looked at the curio dealer with a smile of 
chagrin. ‘‘ It’s perfectly clear, Dufrenne,” he said, 
somewhat crestfallen. ‘‘ Our man went out as we 
w^re walking up the street — while you were telling 
me what happened in the shop.” 

The little old man nodded. Monsieur Perrier con- 
tinued to gaze at his visitors. ‘‘ What is it you wish, 
gentlemen ? ” he presently inquired. 

“Where does Seitz live?” Duvall demanded, 
sharply. 

“ Alas — I do not know. He has worked for me 
but three months. I knew nothing of him — nothing 
at all. He — he asked for leave of absence yester- 
day — he was to be gone a week, but to-night he told 
me that he would not go.” 

77 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


Duvall’s eyes lit up. He turned to Dufrenne. 

After what happened — to-night,” he said, 
significantly, “ he feared to leave — thinking that his 
going away would be an admission of his guilt.” 

Again Dufrenne nodded. Monsieur Perrier looked 
at them with bulging eyes. ‘‘ Guilt ! ” he exclaimed. 
‘‘ Has this fellow Seitz been doing anytliing he should 
not? ” 

“ Possibly,” Duvall ejaculated, dryly. Do you 
happen to know where he was going? ” 

He — he said something about visiting his par- 
ents. Oh — gentlemen — I beg of you, do not cause 
any scandal — it would ruin my trade. I shall dis- 
charge the fellow at once.” 

You will do nothing of the sort,” exclaimed Du- 
vall, angrily. “ If he reports for duty to-morrow, 
say nothing to him of our visit, or it will be worse 
for you.” He leaned toward the terrified barber. 
“ I am a detective,” he said, shortly. “ Be careful 
what you do.” 

Monsieur Perrier sank upon his knees, his hands 
lifted in supplication. “ Mon Dieu — what shall I 
do — my business — it will be desolated — what shall 
I do?” 

“ Get up, and hold your tongue first of all. After 

78 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


that, tell me, if you can, where it was that Seitz 
intended to go, to visit his parents ? ” 

‘‘ He spoke of Brussels — he intended to take the 
night boat from Harwich to Antwerp. I heard him 
discussing his plans with one of the other men.” 

“ Brussels ! ” Duvall hurriedly glanced at his watch. 
“ There’s just time, if we hurry — come.” He 
turned to Dufrenne, excitement showing in every line 
of liis face. As he hurried toward the door he spoke 
over his shoulder to Monsieur Perrier. Don’t open 
your mouth to a soul — do you hear.? If you do, 
you’ll get yourself into a peck of trouble.” The 
last thing they heard as they left the shop was the 
barber’s howls of assent. 

At the comer Duvall signaled a passing cab. 

Liverpool Street station, in a hurry,” he cried. 

Half a crown extra, if you make the boat train 
for Hanvich.” 

Dufrenne gazed at his companion in bewilderment. 

I do not understand. Monsieur Duvall,” he began, 
but the detective cut him short. ‘‘ The thing is as 
plain as a pipe stem,” he said. “ Seitz expected to 
get the snuff box from the Ambassador’s man this 
afternoon, and had made his arrangements to leave 
with it for Brussels at once. The events of the even- 

79 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 

ing — culminating in Noel’s murder, made him fear to 
do so. He realized that the note, delivered to him 
by one of the Ambassador’s servants, might attract 
suspicion toward him, and therefore wisely made up 
his mind to remain quietly where he was, sending the 
box by some friend. He dared not hand the box 
to him at any place outside the shop, for fear he 
might be watched. No doubt he arranged with his 
friend to come to the place just before closing, and 
to pretend to buy the face powder, as you saw him 
do. Seitz had only to turn the powder out of the 
package, put the snuff box inside, and the thing 
was done. This he no doubt did at some opportune 
moment during the evening, when he was certain he 
was not observed. It is a mighty clever scheme — 
I’ll admit. You saw nothing suspicious about the 
transaction, and I confess that I did not realize its 
significance at the time. Naturally the man to whom 
he gave the box will make for Brussels at once, 
since it was to that point that Seitz intended going. 
No doubt he was operating in the interests of some- 
one else — some third person to whom the box is 
of great value, and who has agreed to pay a large 
sum for it on delivery. You saw the fellow who 
bought the powder hand Seitz money — how much 
80 


THE IVORY SNUFE BOX 


you could not tell. It may be that Seitz was obliged 
to divide the reward with his friend, and that the 
latter has already turned over to Seitz his share in 
advance. Of that we cannot be certain, nor is it 
material. Seitz is undoubtedly guilty of the mur- 
der of the man Noel, but to stay here and arrest him 
now would only defeat the object we have in view. 
After the box has been recovered, we can return and 
deal with Seitz. You may be quite sure he wiU not 
dare to run away, for fear that by so doing he would 
admit his guilt.” 

Dufrenne looked at the detective in admiration. 
‘‘ You reason well, monsieur,” he remarked. “ But 
why should they be taking the box to Brussels.? ” 

“ That I cannot tell you, of course, except that, 
as I said before, the plot to steal it inevitably orig- 
inated there. We shall learn more to-morrow, after we 
have arrived in the city. The next thing to be done 
is to find our man.” 

They arrived at Liverpool Street station just in 
time to swing aboard the train for Harwich as it was 
pulling out. There were not many passengers — 
they found themselves in a smoking-compartment 
quite to themselves. 

“ There is no use in attempting to do anything until 

81 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


we reach Harwich,” the detective remarked, pulling 
his hat over his eyes. He leaned back and began to 
speculate disgustedly upon the events of the day. 
Married at noon — tom from his wife within an hour 
— in London at night — a murder — and now a 
wild chase to Brussels after a snuff box. It seemed 
almost ludicrous. He smiled grimly. He had not 
expected to spend in quite this way the first twelve 
hours of his honeymoon. 


82 


CHAPTER VII 


O N the morning of her first day at Dr. Hart- 
mann’s sanatorium, Grace Duvall rose early, 
and dressed herself for a walk. She was determined, 
if possible, to communicate the results of her adven- 
ture the night before to the French police in Brussels, 
and realizing that to do so by the only means in 
her power, namely, the young man who drove the de- 
livery wagon, might involve considerable risk of dis- 
covery, she dressed herself as simply as possible, in 
a dark-gray suit and white shirtwaist. 

She had her breakfast in her room, and then told 
the nurse that she intended to take a walk in the 
grounds. During breakfast she complained of the 
bread which was served her — and informed the maid 
that in her country people ate hot bread at break- 
fast. The woman seemed surprised. “ Hot bread! ” 
she exclaimed. “ Mon Dieu! ” Who ever heard of 
such a thing.” 

“ If you bake your bread here in the house,” Grace 
went on, “ you could easily serve hot bread or rolls 
to me.” 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


“ Impossible, mademoiselle. All our bread comes 
from a bakery in the city. A young man brings 
it each morning at ten o’clock.” 

Grace laughed inwardly. This was just the in- 
formation for which she was seeking. It was then 
a little after nine. She felt tired and worn from 
her almost sleepless night, and her appearance showed 
it. When she told the nurse that she intended to 
take a stroll, and get some air, the latter nodded. 

Dr. Hartmann has recommended it,” she said. 
‘‘ He is a great believer in the value of fresh air.” 
The woman made no reference to the events of the 
night before, nor did Grace. She knew that sleep 
walkers were not supposed to remember anything that 
occurred during their attacks of somnambulism. 

On the way out she met Dr. Hartmann, returning 
from his after-breakfast constitutional. He was just 
entering his office. “ Good morning. Miss Ellicott,” 
he said, pleasantly. May I ask you to step inside 
a moment.? There are a few questions I should like 
to ask you.” 

She obeyed, much against her will. It was nearly 
half -past nine, she knew, and she must not miss the 
delivery man, if she was to send her message to Brus- 
84 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


sels. She heard the doctor saying that he would 
detain her but a few moments. 

His first question sent the color to her cheeks, and 
she hesitated before answering it, realizing that it 
was a trap. “ Do you feel any the worse, miss, from 
the experiences of last night ? ” he inquired. 

For a moment she was about to say “ no,” but 
caught herself in time. “ What experiences ? ” she 
asked, innocently enough. “ Did I have an at- 
tack ” 

She fancied that the doctor appeared relieved. He 
smiled as he replied. “ You wandered about a little. 
The nurse must have been negligent. I have rep- 
rimanded her. You might readily have a serious 
accident, if left to yourself.” 

Grace looked at him with a smile which scarcely 
concealed her agitation. “ I hope I caused no 
trouble,” she said. It is a frightful affliction. I 
trust you will be able to do something for me.” 

“ Don’t worry, my dear young lady. We shall 
cure you beyond a doubt. I think, however, that 
it will be necessary to employ hypnosis. All cases 
such as, yours respond most readily to hypnotic sug- 
gestion. However, I shall observe your case for a 
85 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


while longer, before making a decision. You are go- 
ing out for a walk, I see.” 

“ Yes. I love the air.” She rose with a secret 
fear of the man in her heart. If he should hypnotize 
her, what was there to prevent his learning everything. 
She determined to avoid this method of treatment at 
all costs, yet could not see how to do so without 
arousing his suspicions. ‘‘ Good-moming,” she said, 
hastily, as she left the room. 

The walk to the entrance gate in the fresh autumn 
air served to revive her spirits wonderfully. Her 
original intention had been to stroll down the avenue 
which fronted the house, in the hope of meeting the 
delivery wagon on the way. In a moment the futility 
of this plan became apparent. She did not know from 
which direction the wagon would appear, nor would 
she be able to recognize it, even should she be lucky 
enough to meet it. She paused at the gate, un- 
certain, then began to walk along a path which led 
among the trees and shrubbery, with one eye all the 
while upon the gateway at the entrances Once or 
twice vehicles passing along the road outside startled 
her into sudden action ; she went toward the gate only 
to find that they had passed on. The tenseness of 
the situation began to get on her nerves; in her fear 
86 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


she was certain that she was being watched from the 
house, or by the gardener in the distance who was 
engaged in taking the leaves from the graveled 
walks. She had almost given up in despair when she 
heard the rumble of an approaching cart, and saw 
a smart little wagon driven by a young man in a 
blue jacket with large brass buttons, enter the gate. 

She went quickly toward the roadway, pretending 
an interest in the horse. The young man saw her 
approaching, and looked at her shrewdly. She gave 
a slight nod, and continued to approach him. 
All of a sudden he threw down the reins, gave an 
exclamation, and jumping from the wagon, began 
to inspect the horse’s feet with great deliberateness 
and care. 

Grace went up to the horse, and began patting 
^ its nose. “ Poor fellow,” she said, consolingly, in 
English, looking all the while at the young man’s 
face. 

“ Are you Miss Ellicott.'^ ” he said suddenly in 
rather halting English, without turning his head. 

“ Yes.” Her reply was quick, eager. “ Dr. Hart- 
mann is expecting a messenger from London with the 
stolen snuff box to-day or to-morrow. I heard them 
talking about it, last night. The messenger is a 

87 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


stranger to him. He does not suspect that I am 
watching him.” 

The boy nodded gravely. “You are instructed 
to remain near the front of the house, or in the 
reception-room inside, as much as possible, during 
the day. The man from London is expected this 
morning. He may be here at any moment. Keep 
your eyes open.” He began to whistle merrily, pre- 
tended to remove a stone from one of the horse’s 
shoes, sprang back into the wagon and drove off to 
the house, without paying any further attention to 
her. 

Grace walked slowly up the driveway, and finding 
a bench near a bed of geraniums, sat down and pre- 
tended to read a book which she had brought with her. 
After a time, the delivery wagon returned, but the 
boy did not even glance at her as he passed out. 
She noticed, however, that he was driving rapidly and 
appeared to be in a great hurry. 

She sat on the bench for over an hour, wondering 
what would be the next development in this mysteri- 
ous affair. She could not shake off the idea that 
she would soon see Richard, in spite of the fact 
that she had no definite reasons upon which to base 
her hopes. One thing, however, seemed certain. If 
88 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


the man with the stolen snufF box had arrived in 
Brussels, it clearly meant that Richard had failed to 
capture him in London, and it seemed not unreason- 
able to suppose that he would be following him. 

She thought about the matter so much that it in- 
terfered with her attempts to read the book. After 
a while she closed it, and sat watching the distant 
gardener as he ceaselessly raked the gravel paths. 
Everything seemed so quiet, so full of peace — every- 
thing, in fact, but her own thoughts. Somehow it 
seemed impossible to believe that underneath all the 
beauty of this clear autumn day lay plotting, and 
tragedy, and even death. 

It w’as close to noon, when she ceased her musings, 
and rising, went toward the house. Sitting so long in 
the open air had made her a bit chilly. She de- 
termined to seek the grateful warmth of the recep- 
tion-room. As she mounted the steps of the house 
she heard sounds of a cab being driven rapidly along 
the main street, and a sudden intuition warned her 
that something of an unusual nature was about to 
happen. She glanced back, as the servant opened the 
door in response to her ring, and was not surprised 
to see that the vehicle had entered the grounds, and 
was rapidly approaching the house. 

89 


THE IVORY SNUFE BOX 


Her hasty glance showed her that it contained but 
a single occupant, a man, and in spite of the dis- 
tance, she fancied that she detected something famil- 
iar about the poise of his head and shoulders. The 
thought was but momentary — she stepped at once 
into the reception-room at the right, sat down by 
the fire, and opening her book, pretended to be deeply 
absorbed in its contents. In reality she was observing 
narrowly the maid in the hallway, who stood at the 
open door, waiting to admit the man who was driving 
up in the cab. 


90 


CHAPTER VIII 


W HEN Richard Duvall and Dufrenne arrived 
at Harwich, on their way from London, the 
former requested his companion to turn up his coat 
collar, pull his soft hat over his eyes, and put on 
his spectacles. He feared that the man they were 
trying to locate might recognize the curio dealer as 
the person who had occupied the chair next to him in 
Monsieur Perrier’s barber shop earlier in the evening. 
He also requested the Frenchman to make his way 
to the boat alone, keeping a sharp lookout for the 
man in the brown overcoat. 

Duvall himself joined the straggling crowd of 
sleepy passengers as they went aboard the steamer 
for Antwerp, his eyes searching every passenger about 
him for some sight of the one he sought. Once he 
thought he recognized the man, a long way off, go- 
ing up the steamer’s gang plank, but he could not be 
sure, in the flickering light, that he was right. 

He went aboard the boat, in some doubt as to 

91 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


whether, after all, liis course of reasoning might not 
be incorrect. Here he was bound for the Continent, 
on the heels of a man whom he had no real proof was 
not at this moment sleeping peacefully in his bed in 
London. 

The situation was a trying one. He lit a cigar and 
began to pace the deck nervously, inspecting the few 
passengers who had elected to remain outside, before 
directing his steps to the saloon below. 

After some five minutes spent in a useless search, 
he observed a familiar figure approaching him from 
the direction of the companionway, and at once saw 
that it was Dufrenne. The latter passed him with- 
out any sign of recognition, but just as their elbows 
were almost touching, said in a low voice, “ He is 
below, in the saloon, monsieur. Has not taken a 
stateroom.” 

Duvall continued his walk about tlie decks for a 
few moments longer, then threw away his cigar, and 
descended to the saloon. A number of passengers 
were dozing on the sofas, or in chairs, and at a table 
several were playing cards. He paused for a moment 
to watch the game, his eyes searching the room for 
the man in the brown overcoat. After a time he 
located him, sprawled in an easy chair, his eyes 
92 


.E IVORY SNUFF BOX 


closed, his satchel tossed carelessly upon the floor 
beside him. 

The detective began to stroll about the place, as 
though in deep thought. His eyes were fixed, how- 
ever, upon the face of the man in the chair. It was 
a determined face, as the thin lips and close-set eyes 
showed, but Duvall noted with satisfaction signs of 
weakness about the half-open mouth. The man was 
undoubtedly sleeping soundly. 

Duvall was at a loss to know just what to do. 
He was convinced that the ivory snuflP box, upon the 
recovery of which Monsieur Lefevre had assured him 
the honor of France itself depended, was within ten 
feet of him, yet he could do nothing, apparently, 
at the moment, to regain it. To arrest the man, ex- 
cept on French soil, was out of the question. Even 
could he do so, the package which the latter had so 
carelessly slipped into his overcoat pocket in Mon- 
sieur Perrier’s shop might contain, after all, but a 
harmless box of rice powder, and he would be hard put 
to explain satisfactorily his action. On the other 
hand, the presence of the snuff box on the man’s 
person, supposing this to be beyond question, was 
not in itself sufficient to warrant placing him under ar- 
rest. He might claim it as his own property. There 
93 


THE IVORY SNUFI 




was nothing to show that it had been stolen. Clearly 
the only thing to do was to attempt to get the box 
from him by stealth. 

After a long time spent in debating the matter pro 
and con., Duvall threw himself into a chair close to 
the one which the man he was watching occupied, 
and pretended to sleep. Of Dufrenne he saw noth- 
ing. After perhaps an hour, the card game ceased, 
the players retired to their staterooms, or to near-by 
sofas, and a steward began to lower the lights. 
Presently not a sound was to be heard throughout the 
saloon, except the chorus of snores from the sleeping 
passengers, and the creaking of the vessel as she 
plunged into the heavy Channel swell. 

The detective slowly advanced his foot, and with 
infinite patience, began to draw toward him the small 
leather satchel which lay beside the man’s chair. 
He did this so slowly and imperceptibly that the 
operation occupied the best part of a quarter of an 
hour. At last the bag was safely pushed beneath the 
folds of his overcoat, which he had removed on sitting 
down, and now lay thrown carelessly over his knees. 

He bent over, noiselessly, his hand beneath the folds 
of the coat, and began to fumble with the catch of 
the satchel. In a few moments he managed to open 
94 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


it, and with nervous fingers examined the contents of 
the bag. Guided by the sense of touch only, he was 
able to identify successively a razor case, a shaving 
brush, a cotton nightshirt and a number of other 
articles of an ordinary and usual nature. He had al- 
most given up the search, when his fingers closed about 
a small round object, done up in paper. His heart 
gave a leap of joy. He could feel the coarse string 
with which the package was bound and could tell 
from its lightness that it contained probably what 
he sought. In a moment he had drawn it noiselessly 
from the satchel and transferred it to the pocket 
of his coat. 

The process of closing the bag and returning it to 
its former position was accomplished without waking 
the sleeping occupant of the near-by chair. Duvall 
was conscious of a feeling of exultation. He 
yawned, stretched himself, glanced with great de- 
liberation at his watch, then rose and quietly left the 
room. 

The decks seemed deserted. After some trouble he 
managed, however, to locate Dufrenne, standing be- 
side the rail in the shadow of one of the lifeboats. 
He went up to him and saw that his teeth were chat- 
tering with the cold. DuvaU could not repress a feel- 
95 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


ing of admiration for the little old Frenchman, who, 
rather than risk for a moment his identification by 
the man they were following, had elected to spend the 
night wandering about the decks. His patriotism 
was proof against even the cold. 

Duvall touched him gently on the arm. “ I have 
secured it,” he remarked, quietly. 

Dufrenne turned. “ The snuff box.?’ ” he whis- 
pered excitedly. 

The detective nodded, and cautiously drew the cir- 
cular package from his pocket. ‘‘ It was in his 
satchel,” he remarked, as he began to remove the 
string. 

Dufrenne’s lips moved. He seemed to be offering 
up a silent prayer of thanks. He was scarcely able 
to contain his impatience as the detective slowly un- 
wrapped the parcel, disclosing a small blue paste- 
board box, on the cover of which, in black, appeared 
the words, “ Poudre Perrier.” In a moment Duvall 
had removed the lid, and plunged his finger into the 
box. As he did so, he uttered an exclamation of 
utter astonishment and disgust. The box contained 
nothing but rice powder. 


96 


CHAPTER IX 


"T T would be difficult to describe the feelings of 
JL annoyance and chagrin which swept over Richard 
Duvall as he tossed the box of Monsieur Perrier’s 
rice powder over the side of the vessel and watched 
it float for a moment on the crest of a wave before 
being swept into the darkness. He glanced for an 
instant at his companion, then turned away as he 
saw the latter’s stare of astonishment and dismay. 
He wanted to be alone, to fhink out this matter for 
himself. 

With a confusion of ideas racing through his brain 
he began to pace the deck, trying to discover wherein 
his reasoning had been at fault. He went back to 
the gruesome scene at the house of the Ambassador 
— the murdered valet, with the grim seal of silence 
upon his lips. Whoever had committed this murder 
had made away with the snulf box, of that he felt 
certain. Upon what, then, did his suspicions of Seitz 
rest.^^ The evidence was slender — merely that the 

97 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


latter had had an appointment to meet the murdered 
man that afternoon, and that a person answering 
Seitz’s description had inquired for the latter at the 
servants’ entrance at Monsieur de Grissac’s that even- 
ing. Not very convincing, surely, yet taken with 
Seitz’s evident intention to leave London for Brus- 
sels that night, certainly significant. Following then 
his original hypothesis, that Seitz was the guilty man, 
and had the box in his possession, two solutions of 
the matter only seemed possible. The first was, the 
man in the saloon below, anticipating perhaps some 
attempt to search his baggage, had deliberately pro- 
vided himself, through Seitz, with a second package, 
containing a box of rice powder only, which he had 
placed in his satchel, in the belief that, if found, its 
innocent contents would divert from him further sus- 
picion. The careless way in which he had thrown 
his satchel on the floor beside him, favored this theory. 
It seemed, on sober thought, extremely unlikely that 
the bearer of so valuable a piece of property would 
be so thoughtless as to place it loosely in an unlocked 
hand-bag. Even now the real package might be re- 
posing safely in some secure inner pocket. 

The other solution was equally probable. The 
purchase of the face powder might have been quite 
98 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


innocent and hona fide. The man below might know 
nothing whatever about the snuff box, and Seitz might 
even now be on his way to Brussels to dispose of it, 
in accordance with his original intentions. If so,, 
however, why had he informed Monsieur Perrier that 
he had changed his mind, and would not take the 
vacation he had requested.?’ Was this merely a blind, 
to avert suspicion, in case the unexpected murder 
of the man Noel resulted in inquiries being made of 
Monsieur Perrier ? Of course, when Seitz had spoken 
of his intention to go to Brussels, no thought of 
murder was in his mind — he had no vital object in 
hiding his movements — not having any reason to 
suppose that suspicion could possibly be attracted to 
him. After the sending of the note to him by Noel,, 
he must have realized the danger of his position, and 
told Monsieur Perrier that his plans had changed^ 
while in reality fully intending to carry them out as 
he had originally intended. 

There was, of course, a possible third solution, 
namely, that Seitz had nothing to do with the murder 
at all, and was merely an innocent barber, quite un- 
aware of all the mystery that was being woven about 
himself and his movements. In that event, as Du- 
vall realized with the deepest chagrin, he would be 

99 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


obliged to return to London, and begin his investi- 
gations all over again. In this event, there could be 
but one starting point — the murder of the valet. 
Yet his painstaking examination of the scene of the 
murder had shown an utter absence of any clues. 
Even the weapon which had caused the valet’s death 
was his own property — the finger print on the seal 
which closed his lips made with liis own forefinger. 
And here the detective began to feel a deep sense 
of doubt as to the accuracy of his conclusions re- 
garding Seitz’s guilt. Would a man of his type 
have taken the trouble to place the gruesome seal 
upon the dead man’s lips.? This seemed, on second 
thoughts, the act of a hardened and unfeeling crim- 
inal — a man to whom murder was a scientific accom- 
plishment, not a hasty and hideous crime. Was 
Seitz such a man.? There was no answer to this 
question — the fleeting glimpses which Duvall had 
secured of his face, through the barber-shop window, 
had told him little or nothing of the man’s character. 

One fact, however, presently forced itself upon the 
detective’s mind. If Seitz had left the shop for 
Brussels that night, according to his original inten- 
tion, he must be somewhere on the boat. No nieht 
100 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


route from London to Belgium existed, except that 
by way of Harwich. He blamed himself that in his 
eagerness to discover the stranger with the satchel 
he had not thought to look for Seitz. 

Upon the conclusion of his deliberations, Duvall 
crossed over to the other side of the boat, where he 
had left Dufrenne. The little old Frenchman stood 
gazing down at the sea, his face blue with cold, and 
filled with a look of bitter disappointment. He did 
not even glance up, as Duvall joined him, 

“ Come, Monsieur Dufrenne,” the detective said, 
kindly. “ Let us go below.” 

The old man accompanied him without a word. 
As they reached the companionway, however, he 
spoke. “We must return to London at once,” he 
said. “ This same boat will take us back to Har- 
wich.” 

“ Yes,” Duvall agreed, “ unless we discover that 
Seitz is aboard.” 

“ Seitz The Frenchman looked up, puzzled, 
yet with an expression of renewed hope in his eyes. 

“ Yes. We have apparently followed the wrong 
man. In that case, why not search for the right one. 
If Seitz is on board, we will follow him to Brussels. 

101 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


If not, we will return to London. We can make 
sure, when the passengers are discharged at Ant- 
werp.” 

Dufrenne nodded eagerly. It may indeed be 
possible,” he remarked, as they entered the saloon. 

Most of the passengers were on deck when the 
steamer reached her wharf at Antwerp, but in spite 
of a careful search, Duvall was unable to locate 
Seitz amongst them. He stood by the gang plank, 
watching the crowd as it left the boat, his eyes 
searching restlessly for the swarthy countenance of 
the barber. He had almost given up hope, when 
he saw a belated passenger hurriedly cross the deck 
and dart up the gang plank. He moved rapidly, his 
throat muffled in a blue neckcloth, his slouch hat 
pulled down over his eyes, but the glance which 
Duvall obtained of his somewhat scared face told 
him at once that he had located his man. 

He signaled quietly to Dufrenne, who had been 
standing discreetly in the background for fear the 
barber might recognize him, and the two left the 
boat together, some forty or more yards in Seitz’s 
rear. 

They did not make an}^ attempt to foUow him 
closely. There seemed no room for doubt tliat he 
102 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


was bound for the train to Brussels, and Duvall and 
his companion followed along at a leisurely pace, 
showing nothing of the agitation they so keenly 
felt. 

They purposely avoided any attempt to enter the 
same compartment with the barber, being satisfied 
when they saw him climb aboard the train. They 
did, however, watch the departing passengers at all 
stops, and when they rolled into the station at Brus- 
sels, they were certain that their man was aboard. 
Nor were they mistaken. They saw him alight, look 
swiftly about as though fearing that he was being 
followed, and then start at a rapid pace toward the 
street. r 

Duvall went after him at once, directing Dufrenne 
to go to the Hotel Metropole and secure a room in 
his own name, where he was to wait until he heard 
from his companion. These instructions given, the 
detective began to follow Seitz up the street. 

The man evidently knew the town well. He made 
no pauses, and did not hesitate at any time during 
his long walk. It terminated at a small, third-class 
hotel in the older part of the city, where he went 
in, entered the cafe, and selecting a table in a dim 
corner, ordered breakfast. 

103 


THE IVORY SNUEF BOX 


Duvall, feeling safe in leaving him, at once sought 
a telephone and proceeded to call up Dufrenne at the 
Hotel Metropole. 

The latter, meanwhile, had turned from the rail- 
way station, and was proceeding up the street at a 
leisurely pace, when a young man approached him 
from behind, and touched him lightly on the shoulder. 

Monsieur Dufrenne ? ” he inquired, smiling. 

The curio dealer glanced at the man who had ac- 
costed him, and an answering smile lit up his face. 
“ Oh, Lablanche, glad to see you,” he said. “ I did 
not know you were on this case.” 

“ Monsieur Lefevre sent me from Paris last night. 
We are expecting news at any moment. Monsieur 
Duvall is with you, I observe.” 

“ Yes. He is following the man from London. 
He will telephone me, as soon as he learns his des- 
tination.” 

The man whom Dufrenne had addressed as La- 
blanche, looked grave. “ This affair has, we believe, 
been engineered by a physician here — Dr. Hart- 
mann — you have heard of him, of course.” 

Dufrenne turned to his companion. “ Hartmann 
— the man of the stolen war plans. Mon Dieu! 
Why did I not think of him before ” He seemed 
lOIf 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


deeply chagrined. “ Of course — of course — that 
explains everything.” 

“ Where is Monsieur Duvall to communicate with 
you.^ ” Dufrenne’s companion asked. His voice held 
a note of brisk authority. 

‘‘ At the Hotel Metropole. I shall take a room 
there at once.” 

“ Good. I must leave you for a short time. Await 
news from me at the hotel. I shall, I hope, be able 
to inform you, within half an hour, whether our sus- 
picions regarding Dr. Hartmann are correct or not. 
If they are, you will of course advise Monsieur Du- 
vall accordingly. Above all things, the delivery of 
the snuff box to Hartmann must be prevented. On 
that point the Prefect was emphatic.” The young 
man turned into a cross street as he concluded and 
was swallowed up in the crowd. 

Dufrenne, after securing his room at the Hotel 
Metropole, sat down to wait. He did not have to 
wait long. The young man, Lablanche, joined him 
in a short time. “We have just learned,” he said, 
gravely, “ that our suspicions are entirely correct. 
Dr. Hartmann is responsible for the theft of the 
snuff box, and is momentarily expecting the man who 
is to deliver it to him.” 


105 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


Dnfrenne looked grave. Duvall should know 
this without delay,’’ he said. 

He had no more than spoken, when the telephone 
bell in his room rang. He hastened to reply and 
found Duvall at the other end of the wire. Come 
to the Hotel Universelle,” the latter said, laconically. 
“ Hurry. I will wait for you.” 

Dufrenne communicated the message to Lablanche. 
The latter nodded. “ Good ! ” he said. “ Give Mon- 
sieur Duvall the information you have, and above 
all, impress upon him the necessity of acting imme- 
diately. There is no time for delay. I will follow 
at once, with another of our men.” 

The curio dealer found Duvall pacing anxiously 
up and down the hotel corridor, pretending to be 
searching a railway time-table. He nodded impercep- 
tibly toward the cafe as Dufrenne entered, then 
turned and went out into the street. The old man 
followed him — in a few moments they were conversing 
rapidly in the doorway of a near-by shop. 

Dufrenne had but a few words to say, but they were 
sufficient to show Duvall the extreme gravity of the 
situation. He stood for several moments, consider- 
ing the best way by which the delivery of the stolen 
snuff box to Dr. Hartmann might be prevented. 

106 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


Then he signaled a cab which he saw approaching. 
“ Seitz is breakfasting — inside,” he said quickly to 
Dufrenne. “ Don’t let him out of your sight. I 
am going to see Dr. Hartmann.” He sprang into 
the cab, gave the doctor’s name to the cabman, and 
in a moment was being driven rapidly up the street, 
leaving the little old Frenchman standing blinking 
with astonishment on the sidewalk. 


107 


CHAPTER X 


W HEN Richard Duvall left the Hotel Uni- 
verselle, en route to the office of Dr. Hart- 
mann, he had no definite idea of just what he in- 
tended to do on reaching there. One thought was 
uppermost in his mind — he must prevent, in some 
way, and at any cost, the delivery of the snuff box 
to Hartmann, and since to follow Seitz to the latter’s 
office would avail him nothing, he decided to precede 
him there. 

During the drive, he began to formulate a plan, 
daring in its conception, extremely dangerous in its 
execution, yet one which, if carried out with courage 
and determination, promised success. He was per- 
fecting in his mind the details of this plan when 
the carriage turned into the driveway at Dr. Hart- 
mann’s. 

So occupied had he become with his thoughts that 
he failed to observe the figure of Grace, standing be- 
hind the maid in the open doorway; she disappeared 
108 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


into the reception-room before he had alighted from 
the cab. He went up to the servant, assumed an 
air of dignified assurance, and announced that he 
wished to see Dr. Hartmann at once. 

The maid ushered him in, glanced into the parlor, 
observed Grace sitting there, apparently reading, and 
then throwing open the door to the left which gave 
admittance to the doctor’s office, bade Duvall enter. 
The latter stepped in at once, without looking into 
the room across the hall. Had he done so, he would 
have observed his wife, whom he fully supposed to 
be quietly waiting for him in Paris, rise from her 
chair with a frightened face and start impulsively to- 
ward him. 

For a moment Grace was on the point of calling 
out — she wanted to let Richard know that she was 
there. She wanted to see him — to talk to him, to 
realize the happiness of being once again in his pres- 
ence. It had been, since their parting the day be- 
fore, her constant thought. Then she suddenly rea- 
lized that Monsieur Lefevre had warned her not to 
appear to recognize her husband, should she meet 
him in the course of her adventures. The thought 
checked her — she paused at the door of the recep- 
tion-room and glanced down the hall. 

109 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


The servant who had admitted Duvall had disap- 
peared toward the rear of the house. Everything 
about her seemed quiet. She started across the hall, 
determined to enter the room into which Richard had 
just vanished, when she heard the sound of rapid 
footsteps approaching her. With a start she turned 
and again entered the parlor, assuming a careless 
manner she by no means felt. 

She had scarcely seated herself in the chair by 
the fire, and opened her book, when she saw Dr. 
Hartmann appear in the hall and enter the door which 
led to the outer office. 

Grace was undecided as to what she should do next. 
Her safest course, she ultimately concluded, was to 
do nothing. She remained quietly in her seat, pre- 
tending to read her book, but all the while watching, 
with anxious eyes, the door on the other side of the 
hall. 

Richard Duvall, meanwhile, had entered the wait- 
ing room, his mind fully made up as to the course 
he was about to pursue. During the few moments 
which intervened, until the doctor’s arrival, he looked 
keenly about the room, examining it in detail, fixing 
its entrances and exits firmly in his mind, so as to 
be prepared for any emergency which might arise. 

110 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


The room was a large one. Along the side facing 
the entrance door, as well as that which fronted on 
the park, were big curtained windows, set in deep 
recesses, and between them, cases of books. At the 
f^r end of the room, toward the rear of the house, 
was another door. Duvall stole over to it, listened 
carefully, then slowly opened it and looked within. 
The room proved to be the doctor’s private office, and 
he saw at once that it was built in a sort of ell, 
and could not be entered except through the room in 
which he stood. There was a door, it is true, in 
the right-hand wall, which had once given entrance 
to the hall, but against this a heavy instrument case, 
with glass doors, now stood. 

Duvall withdrew his head and shoulders from the 
doorway, nodding to himself in a satisfied way, then 
noiselessly closed the door and returned to the center 
of the room. 

In a moment Dr. Hartmann came in, glancing at 
him sharply. “ Good-morning, sir,” he remarked, in 
French. “ You wish to see me.? ” 

The detective took a card-case from his pocket and 
tendered the doctor a card. It was one of many 
which he carried for such emergencies, and bore 
the name of Stephen Brooks. 

Ill 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


“ Yes,” he said, pleasantly. “ I came to consult 
you concerning a curious case.” 

‘‘ Indeed ! ” The doctor looked at the card care- 
lessly. “ I see that you are an American.” He be- 
gan to speak in English. “ Sit down, please.” 

“ Thank you.” Duvall took a chair. 

“ What is the nature of the case, may I ask.?* ” 

“ Doctor — I’ve heard so much of your wonderful 
cures — of your remarkable success in treating men- 
tal disorders, that I have ventured to come to you 
in the hope that you may be able to help me.” 

The doctor smiled, not displeased at the other’s 
flattery. “ What is the cause of your trouble, Mr. 
Brooks ? ” 

Duvall observed him thoughtfully for a moment. 
“ If a person has delusions upon one particular sub- 
ject, is he on that account necessarily insane? ” 

“ Not at all. Manias of various sorts are not un- 
common, and generally curable. Why do you 
ask ? ” 

“ Because I want you to treat such a case.” 

The doctor considered his patient narrowly. “ Of 
course, you understand, Mr. Brooks, that my pro- 
fessional charges are very high.” 

Duvall took out his pocketbook and removing 

112 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


from it a note for a hundred francs, laid it care- 
lessly on the table. “ I have understood so, Doctor,” 
he remarked. Luckily I am a man of considerable 
wealth.” 

“ In that event,” Hartmann remarked, eying the 
bill in a gratified way, “ I am at your service. 
What is the nature of your complaint.'^ ” 

“ It isn’t about myself that I have come,” Du- 
vall hastened to inform him. ‘‘ It concerns a man 
in my employ — my valet, to be exact.” 

“Your valet.?” The doctor frowned, and made 
as though to rise. “ My dear sir — ” 

“ One moment, please. Doctor. The man is a most 
worthy fellow. He has been in my service for years. 
A Belgian, too, I think. I have a very high regard 
for him — an excellent servant, except for the pe- 
culiar delusions with which he has lately become pos- 
sessed.” 

“ I fear that I cannot undertake his treatment, 
Mr. Brooks. I receive only a few patients, and those 
of the highest standing.” 

“ I know that. I did not propose to have the man 
quartered here in your house. I merely want you to 
examine him, in order that I may find out whether his 
case is curable or not. If it is, I shall take him to 
IIS 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


Paris and place him under treatment — if not, I 
must, of course, discharge him. It is for that rea- 
son that I have come to you.” 

“ What are the man’s symptoms ? ” asked the doc- 
tor, shortly. 

“ He imagines, from time to time, that he has been 
robbed.” 

“ That is by no means uncommon. I have seen 
many such cases. Are these delusions confined to any 
one subject.^ ” 

“ No. At times he fancies that money has been 
taken from him. At other times, jewelry that he 
has never possessed. Once he accused me of rob- 
bing him of a pair of shoes, and demanded that I 
pay him a large sum of money for them. I have 
generally succeeded in quieting him by assuring him 
that the stolen articles would be forthcoming later 
on.” 

“ Excellent. And how long has this condition been 
in evidence ” 

“ About a month, now. During the past week, 
however, the attacks have been more frequent. Last 
night he informed me that someone had taken from 
him a diamond ring — of course he had never owned 
one — and wanted five thousand francs in return. I 
114 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


assured him that I would get him the money this 
morning.” 

“ The case does not seem particularly difficult, Mr. 
Brooks, from what you tell me. Of course I could 
determine better after a personal examination.” 

“ Exactly. And if you find no other conditions of 
an alarming nature, you think a cure possible.?” 

“ Undoubtedly. When can I see the man? ” 

Duvall took out his watch. ‘‘ I requested him to 
meet me here to-day at noon,” he said. “ I did not 
tell him he was coming for a medical examination. 
He might have refused to come. I let him think 
that you might be able to recover the diamond ring 
he thinks has been stolen from him. I thought 
it best to humor him. I should have brought him 
with me, but he had arranged to go this morning to 
see his people, who hve in the town. He was to come 
directly here, after leaving them.” He went over 
to the window and looked toward the road. I am 
surprised that he is so late. Usually he is punc- 
tuality itself.” 

The doctor rose; “No doubt he will be here very 
soon,” he remarked. “ You can wait here, if you 
like. I will join you on his arrival. Meanwhile, as 
I have some matters to attend to in my office, I beg 
115 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


that you will excuse me.” He opened the door at 
the rear of the room, which led to his private office. 

When the man arrives, kindly let me know.” 

Duvall glanced toward the door through which Dr. 
Hartmann had just passed, then paused for several 
moments, listening; then he walked noiselessly across 
the room, and paused before the study door. Within 
all was quiet. Stooping down, he applied his eye 
to the keyhole. Dr. Hartmann sat at a large rose- 
wood desk, busily writing. 

With a smile of satisfaction the detective arose, 
and going to the door which led to the hall, drew 
from the lock the key which stood in it, and then, 
opening the door shghtly, inserted the key in the 
lock on the other side of the door. As he did so, 
he peered out across the hall, and for a moment the 
key almost dropped from his fingers. There, facing 
him, sat Grace, his wife, whom he had supposed to 
be safely in Paris. The sight for a moment com- 
pletely upset him — he paused, gazing at her with 
an expression of incredulity. 

Grace rose, and came toward her husband, her face 
pale, her lips parted. “ Richard,” she whispered 
softly, then became suddenly silent as he pressed his 
finger to his lips. 


116 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


As they stood there thus, facing each other in 
grave uncertainty, Duvall heard the sound of a ve- 
hicle being driven up the graveled road. He glanced 
toward the glass entrance door and saw a cab ap- 
proaching the house, in which sat Seitz. He turned 
to Grace, and spoke in a voice so low as to be scarcely 
audible. 

‘‘ Open the door at once — before the man can 
ring. Pretend to be a maid. Show him in here 
immediately. Quick.” He withdrew into the wait- 
ing-room, leaving Grace staring at him in amazement. 
For a moment she hesitated. It seemed so cruel, to 
be this near to him, and yet to not even be able to 
touch his hand 1 Then she went quickly to the front 
door and threw it open as Seitz came up the steps. 


117 


CHAPTER XI 


R ichard DUVALL, alone in Dr. Hartmann’s 
outer office, had not long to wait. He had 
hardly succeeded in throwing off the agitation which 
the unexpected sight of Grace had caused him, when 
the door from the hall was opened, and Grace ad- 
mitted Seitz to the room. 

The latter glanced at Duvall with a curious look, 
but said nothing. Grace withdrew, closing the door 
quietly after her. The detective went up to the new- 
comer and addressed him in a low tone. 

“ You are Oscar Seitz, from London.? ” he asked, 
bluntly. 

The man appeared greatly taken back. “ Yes,” 
he said, haltingly. ‘‘ I wish to see Dr. Hartmann.” 
“ About the snuff box, of course ? ” 

Again the man started. “ Who are you.? ” he 
asked, suddenly suspicious. 

“ I am Dr. Hartmann’s assistant. He has been 
waiting for you. You have the box with you, of 
coui’se.? ” 


118 


THE IVORY SNUFE BOX 


The man felt carefully in his pocket, and presently 
drew out a smkll object done up in paper. ‘‘Yes, I 
have it. The price was to be twenty-five hundred 
francs.’’ 

“ That is correct,” remarked the detective. “ Give 
it to me.” 

Seitz drew back his hand. “I want the money 
first, and I cannot deliver it to any one but Dr. Hart- 
mann.” 

“ Dr. Hartmann is in the next room,” said Duvall, 
with a pleasant smile. “ He has the money all ready 
for you. I will call him. But first, let me see if 
you have really secured what we want.” He held out 
his hand. “ Don’t be afraid,” he said. “ I shall 
not leave the room. The box will not be out of your 
sight.” 

Seitz appeared to consider the matter for a brief 
moment, but the detective’s manner reassured him. 
He extended the package toward Duvall. “ It is 
there, all right,” he laughed, softly. “ And a hard 
time I had getting it.” 

Without making any comment, Duvall took the 
package, quickly tore off the coarse paper wrappings, 
and saw inside a small round ivory box, its top 
ornamented with a number of small pearls, arranged 
119 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


in a circular design about its circumference. He 
glanced swiftly at it, crushed the paper into his 
pocket, then started toward the door at the rear. 

Where are you going? ” demanded Seitz, harshly, 
his hand going toward his pocket, as though for a 
weapon. 

“To call the doctor, my man,” Duvall replied. 
“ Don’t excite yourself. He will be here in a moment, 
with your money.” Without a moment’s hesitation 
he crossed to the study door and tapped lightly upon 
it. As he did so, his back was toward Seitz, hence 
the latter did not see the swift movement, by which 
he conveyed the snuff box to the pocket of his waist- 
coat. When, after a few moments’ delay. Dr. Hart- 
mann appeared on the threshold, Duvall’s hands were 
both quite empty. 

As the doctor entered the room, the detective gave 
a quick nod toward Seitz. “ My man,” he remarked, 
in a low tone. “ He seems to be rather bad, this 
morning ; ” tlien aloud, “ Oscar, this is Doctor Hart- 
mann.” 

Seitz bowed, then stood uncomfortably, shifting his 
weight from one foot to the other as the doctor bent 
upon him a searching glance. “ Sit down, my good 
120 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


fellow,” the latter presently remarked, as he took a 
chair. 

“I — I don’t think I had better, sir,” he stammered. 
‘‘ I am in somewhat of a hurry — ” 

The doctor interrupted him, in a soothing voice. 

There, there. Sit down. I want to talk to you.” 

Seitz glanced helplessly toward Duvall, apparently 
somewhat confused by the reception which Dr. Hart- 
mann had accorded him. It was not entirely what 
he had expected. 

“ I have explained everything to the doctor,” re- 
marked Duvall hastily. ‘‘ He understands about the 
money you requested.” He looked significantly at Dr. 
Hartmann. 

“ Then I hope the matter can be settled at once,” 
said Seitz, apparently much relieved. He made no 
movement to sit down, but continued to look ex- 
pectantly at Dr. Hartmann. 

The latter nodded in a grave and reassuring way. 

Give yourself no uneasiness, my man. Everything 
will be satisfactorily arranged. Meanwhile, sit down, 
if you please, and tell me something about yourself. 
I understand you have been greatly worried, of late. 
Not quite yourself — let us say.” 

121 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


Seitz looked at him in blank amazement. “ I 
haven’t been worried by anything, except the busi- 
ness which brought me here. I want my money — ” 
Exactly — exactly,” the doctor assented, in a 
soothing voice. ‘‘ You shall have your money in due 
time. I promise you that. But first sit down and 
let us have a little chat.” 

Seitz sat down, helplessly. Apparently he was at 
a loss as to just what to say next. The doctor had 
told him that the money he expected would be forth- 
coming — he resigned himself in patience to await the 
latter’s pleasure. For a moment he glanced at Du- 
vall, however. You should not have taken it frcwn 
me,” he said, peevishly. 

Duvall looked quickly at Dr. Hartmann. The lat- 
ter at once spoke up. “ Give the matter no further 
thought, my man,” he said, gravely. I will see that 
you are fairly treated. But before we go ahead, I 
want you to tell me more about yourself — your life 
— your amusements — ” 

“ W^hat the devil have my amusements got to do 
with the matter? ” exclaimed Seitz, his voice trembling 
with anger. . “ I tell you I want my money.” 

“ And I tell you you shall have it. But, now, I 
insist that you let the matter drop for the present and 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


answer my questions, otherwise I can do nothing to 
help you.” 

The remark quieted Seitz somewhat. He was, .after 
all, in a peculiar position. The snuff box was gone. 
He cursed his stupidity in having let it pass out of 
his possession before the price agreed upon for its 
delivery had been forthcoming. That Dr. Hartmann 
did not question the payment of the money, however, 
was reassuring. He determined to answer as well as 
he could whatever questions the doctor might see fit 
to ask him. 

The latter continued to examine his supposed pa- 
tient with a shrewdly professional air. “ How old 
are you, my man ? ” he suddenly inquired. 

« Thirty-six.” 

“ Do you drink ? ” 

“Yes — I — I drink occasionally.” 

“ Use any drugs.? ” 

“ No.” 

“ Appetite good.? ” 

“ Yes.” 

“ Sleep well.? ” 

“ Yes — pretty well.” 

“ Have you had any shock, recently. Has any- 
thing happened to make you nervous, or excitable.? ” 
123 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


Seitz glanced nervously from Duvall to the doctor 
and back again. What, he wondered, was the pur- 
pose of this examination? Was Dr. Hartmann try- 
ing to lead him into damaging admissions concerning 
the method he had employed to secure the snuff box? 
He scowled, then suddenly spoke. “ It’s none of your 
affair, is it? if I have.” 

Oscar ! ” said Duvall, in a tone of remonstrance. 
“ Don’t speak to the doctor in that way.” 

‘‘ Oscar ! ” The man turned on the detective an- 
grily. Look here — you took that — that — ” he 
hesitated, fearful that some trap had been set for 
him — “that article away from me — now see that I 
get my money.” 

The doctor glanced at Duvall. “ He seems to be 
possessed with the one idea,” he remarked, sotto voce, 
then turned to Seitz again. “ My good man, I have 
already assured you that Mr. Brooks and myself will 
see that you get your money. Wliat more do you 
want? ” 

“ I want the money,” Seitz cried, losing his patience, 
“ and I want it quick.” He sprang from his chair, 
and his hand shot toward his pocket, whence it re- 
appeared in a moment with a revolver. “No more 
of this nonsense, now. I want the cash.” 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


The doctor, who had also sprung to his feet, started 
toward the angry barber with outstretched hands. 
Seitz whirled on him, the revolver pointed directly at 
Hartmann’s head. ‘‘ Keep off,” he cried. In his ex- 
citement he had forgotten Duvall, who at once seized 
him from behind. “ Look out. Doctor,” he cried, as 
he threw his arm about the fellow’s neck and slowly 
throttled him. “ He’s gone quite insane — dangerous 
— take away the revolver.” 

As he spoke, he tightened his arm about Seitz’s 
throat until the latter gasped for breath. The re- 
volver fell from his nerveless grasp — he clutched at 
the detective’s arm and tried to tear it from his throat, 
all the while groaning and sputtering at a great rate. 

“ Flopelessly insane, I fear,” said the doctor, as 
he picked up the fallen revolver. ‘‘ You had best 
take him away at once.” 

But, Doctor, I can’t do anything with him in this 
violent state. Can’t you give him something to quiet 
him? ” 

Nothing but a hypodermic. He wouldn’t swallow 
a drug, I fear.” 

“ Then give him a hypodermic at once. I’ve got to 
get him away from here, somehow.” He tightened 
his hold on Seitz’s throat as the latter struggled furi- 
125 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


ously, trying his best to get away. Luckily for Du- 
vall, his adversary was a man of only moderate 
strength, but he struggled like the madman the doc- 
tor supposed him to be, trying in vain to speak. The 
detective’s arm, however, tightly wound about his 
throat, effectually prevented his cries from becoming 
intelligible. 

“ I’m so sorry. Doctor,” Duvall went on, as Hart- 
mann prepared his hypodermic needle and approach- 
ing the struggling man, took hold of one of his arms 
and bared it with a quick motion. “ I wouldn’t have 
subjected you to all this annoyance for anything. 
The poor fellow has been getting worse for days, but 
I had no idea, when he left me this morning, that he 
would be like this.” 

“ It frequently happens,” the doctor remarked, as 
he pressed the syringe into the man’s forearm and 
then withdrew it quickly. “ There — he’ll soon be all 
right now. Just hold him there for a few moments 
longer, Mr. Brooks and he’ll be sleeping like a child.” 

Even as he spoke, the struggles of the man in Du- 
vall’s arms became less violent — his efforts to cry out 
less vigorous. “ It’s a sad case,” the detective de- 
marked. “ I am very much afraid that he must be 
sent to an asylum.” 


1S6 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


‘‘ Undoubtedly the best place for him, my dear sir,” 
remarked Hartmann, dryly. “ I see your cab is wait- 
ing, outside. As soon as the man is quiet, I will have 
one of my attendants help you to carry him to it.” 
He went over to Seitz, who was now struggling faintly, 
and felt his pulse. “ He is quite harmless now,” he 
observed, looking keenly into the man’s face. “ I will 
call one of my men.” He went to the wall and pressed 
an electric button. 

Duvall allowed the limp body of the barber to slip 
softly into a chair. “ Poor Oscar ! ” he said, mus- 
ingly, looking down at the huddled-up figure. “ W^hat 
a pity ! Such a faithful fellow, too ! ” He turned to 
Hartmann. ‘‘ I feel almost as though I had lost an 
old friend.” 

The doctor smiled. “ Rather a dangerous one, I 
should say,” he remarked, as he glanced at the re- 
volver on the table. “ You will want this, I sup- 
pose.” 

Duvall took the revolver and thrust it into his 
pocket. ‘‘ Might as well take it along, I suppose, 
doctor. Now about my bill — do I owe you anything 
in addition to the fee I paid you on my arrival.? ” He 
felt for his pocketbook. 

“ Nothing, my dear sir,” The doctor smiled. “ I 

121 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


feel that in accepting your fee I am robbing you.’’ 
He drew the note from his pocket, but Duvall waved 
it aside. 

“ I insist, my dear sir. You have given me your 
valuable time, at least, even if you could do this poor 
fellow no good.” He paused, as an attendant in a 
gray uniform entered the room. 

Max,” said the doctor, addressing the man, 
“help this gentleman put his friend into the cab.” 

The man came forward, and he and Duvall picked 
up the limp figure of Seitz, who was now sleeping 
soundly. In a few moments they had transferred 
him to the cab outside. 

As they left the house, Duvall saw Grace standing 
near the door, her face pale, her eyes seeking his. He 
avoided her glances, making no sign that he recog- 
nized her. The doctor, somewhat annoyed, requested 
her, with elaborate but firm politeness, to withdraw. 
She did so, without looking back, but her heart was 
beating until it shook her whole body, and she longed 
to run to her husband and drive off with him, in spite 
of the doctor’s presence. Somehow she felt that the 
necessity which had kept her a prisoner in this house 
no longer existed — that Richard had succeeded in 
128 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


recovering the ivory snufF box, and would soon send 
her word to join him, so that they might return to 
Paris together. She went to her room, ordered some 
luncheon brought to her, and sat down to await his 
message. 

Meanwhile, Duvall, with Seitz beside him, drove 
rapidly away from the house, his arm about the man’s 
unconscious figure. At the gate of the park he saw 
another cab waiting, and in a moment perceived 
that it contained Dufrenne, who in accordance with 
his instructions had been following Seitz. Duvall 
nodded to him, then pointed silently down the street. 
Dufrenne at once ordered his driver to follow. In a 
short time they had reached the Hotel Metropole, and 
Seitz, with the assistance of two of the porters, had 
been carried upstairs and placed on the bed. Duvall 
explained to the manager of the hotel that the man 
was a friend of his, who had been taken ill, and needed 
to sleep for a few hours. He also engaged the ad- 
joining room at once, and thither he and Dufrenne 
presently repaired to examine the snuff box which, un- 
til now, had been reposing safely in the detective’s 
waistcoat pocket. 

He drew it out, when they were alone, and silently 

129 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


handed it to Dufrenne. The little old Frenchman 
took one look at it, then threw up his hands with a 
cry of joy. “ It is the Ambassador’s snuff box. 

Heavens be praised ! ” he cried, as the tears coursed 
down his withered cheeks. 


130 


CHAPTER XII 


R ICHARO DUVALL looked at the tense figure^ 
the agitated face of his companion, and once 
again a feeling of surprise swept over him, as he ob- 
served the little Frenchman’s joy at the recovery of 
Monsieur de Grissac’s snuff box. 

Throughout the exciting events of the morning, and 
of the night before, the detective had lost sight of the 
apparent insignificance of the object of their search; 
noV that he for the first time saw it before him, his 
curiosity was once more aroused. Surely there must 
be something of vast interest about this apparently 
worthless bit of ivory, to make its theft the reason 
for a brutal murder, its recovery a matter of such 
extreme importance that Monsieur Lefevre should con- 
sider the honor of his country at stake. 

He took the box from Dufrenne’s trembling fingers 
and examined it carefully. It was about two and a 
half inches in circumference, and quite shallow, not 
over half an inch in depth, in all. The ivory was 
131 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


old and yellow from use and time, and very thin and 
smooth. The lightness of the box surprised him — 
it seemed to weigh almost nothing, as he balanced it 
on the palm of his hand. 

The circular top of the box was curiously orna- 
mented with a circle of small colorless pearls, of tri- 
fling value, set at regular intervals about the edge of 
the cover. Within this row of pearls was an inscrip- 
tion in Latin, carved in tiny letters in the ivory. 
From its first words, “ Pater nosteri** Duvall saw that 
it was the Lord’s Prayer. The letters extended 
around the circumference of the box in several con- 
centric lines, or rings, inside of the ring of pearls. 
In the center of the box was a cross of ivory, carved 
so as to be slightly raised above its general surface. 
Beyond this, the box contained no other ornamenta- 
tion. 

Along the front edge of the box Duvall noticed 
a small spring. He pressed it, in considerable ex- 
citement. Evidently the reason for the box’s value 
must be within — some papers, no^ doubt, of extreme 
importance. He saw the cover of the box fly upward 
and glanced hastily inside. The box contained noth- 
ing but a few pinches of snuff. 

Duvall was almost tempted to laugh. The whole 

132 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


thing seemed so ridiculous — so utterly absurd. 
Absent-mindedly he tried a pinch of the snuff, in- 
haling it into his nostrils. It produced noth ng more 
startling than a violent fit of sneezing. Undoubtedly 
Monsieur de Grissac had told the truth. He did use 
snuff. 

Closing the box, Duvall regarded it for a moment 
in silence, then looked at Dufrenne. “ It isn’t worth 
a hundred francs,” he said. 

“ The box? ” answered the curio dealer, as he fol- 
lowed Duvall’s glances. ‘‘ No, monsieur — what you 
say is indeed true, yet I would not sell it for a hundred 
million.” 

‘‘ But why ? What is there about it that makes it 
so valuable? Surely you can tell me that, now that 
we have safely recovered it.” 

Alas, monsieur. I could not tell you, even if I 
knew, which I assure you I do not. I can only say 
that Monsieur Lefevre has told me that it holds within 
it the honor of my beloved country, and therefore I 
would not sell it for all the money in the world.” 

Duvall was clearly puzzled. Well,” he said at 
length, as he thrust the box into his pocket, “ there’s 
evidently some mystery about the thing that I do not 
understand, but I suppose I shall, some day. Just at 
ISS 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


present our first duty is to return the box to Mon- 
sieur de Grissac.” 

“ Yoi are right, monsieur, and at once. There is 
a train for Antwerp in half an hour. From there we 
can take the night boat to Harwich. Let us set out 
without further delay.” 

“ And that fellow in there? ” remarked the detective 
with a grim laugh. We’ve got to take him with 
us, you know. He’ll be wanted in London for the 
murder of the man Noel.” 

Yes. That also is important.” Dufrenne went 
into the adjoining room and stood looking at the sleep- 
ing barber. “ But not so important as the return of 
the snuff box to Monsieur de Grissac.” 

Duvall followed him, and lifting one of Seitz’s arms, 
let it drop suddenly. It fell to his side, lifeless. 

He’s sleeping like a log. The doctor must have 
given him a pretty stiff dose. I don’t see how we are 
going to travel with him in tJiis condition.’^ 

“ Then we must leave him in the care of Monsieur 
Lefevre’s other agents here in Brussels. We cannot 
delay an instant, on any account.” 

“ I do not agree with you, monsieur. There is one 
thing which is as important to me as the recovery of 
134 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


the snuff box could possibly be to Monsieur de Gris- 
sac, and that is, the safety of my wife.” 

‘‘Your wife?” Dufrenne stared at him in sur- 
prise. 

“ Yes, monsieur, my wife. She is at present in 
Dr. Hartmann’s house. How she came there, I do 
not know, but I imagine that our friend the Prefect 
sent her there, to assist, if occasion offered, in our 
work. In that he was wise; but for her presence, I 
fear my plan would have failed. Had Seitz rung 
the doorbell, and been admitted by any of the doc- 
tor’s servants, I doubt if I should have been able to 
get the box from him before the latter had seen 
him. I should then have been obliged to use force, 
and the results might have been disastrous.” 

“ Yes, monsieur. I see that. The young lady at 
Dr. Hartmann’s was sent by Monsieur Lefevre. His 
agents here have already informed me of that. But 
that she is your wife I did not know.” He pondered 
for a moment, glancing at his watch. “ It is a great 
pity. Delay may be most dangerous. Why do you 
not send her word to join you in Paris? ” 

Duvall frowned, and began to walk about the room 
nervously. “A few hours’ delay can make no dif- 
135 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


ference,’^ he presently said. The box is perfectly 
safe in our hands. I am not, however, at all con- 
vinced that my wife is perfectly safe in the hands of 
Dr. Hartmann.” 

‘‘ But he knows nothing ” 

‘‘ That I cannot say. So far he does not, I think, 
suspect that Seitz was the man he expected from 
London. If he had, he would never have let me leave 
his office. Luckily for us, Seitz was a stranger to 
him, and with the murder of Noel on his conscience, 
he feared to say anything to the doctor about the 
snuff box while I was present. I imagine he suspected 
a trap of some sort. But the doctor will discover, 
probably before the day is out, how he has been 
tricked. Then he will begin to investigate, and if he 
finds out that it was my wife who admitted the man, 
he may in his rage decide to retaliate upon her. I 
cannot think of leaving Brussels, without her. She 
must go with me. Upon that I am determined.” 

Dufrenne looked grave, and a glint of anger came 
into his eyes. “ The service of France, monsieur, 
is more important than your private affairs. I beg 
of you that you leave here at once.” 

“ But why, my friend.? We can leave just as well 

136 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


in the morning. The box is safe.” He felt his waist- 
coat pocket. 

Safe, monsieur ! Let me tell you that neither the 
box nor you yourself are safe for a moment, as long 
as you remain in Brussels. You would be in no 
greater danger, if you were carrying about with you 
a package of dynamite.” 

“ You are unduly nervous, monsieur,” laughed Du- 
vall, as he observed the Frenchman’s look of terror. 

I have every confidence in my ability to take care 
of myself. I must notify my wife to join me here 
as soon as possible.” 

‘‘ How do you propose to do so ? ” inquired Du- 
frenne. 

For a moment Duvall was puzzled. “ You could 
not safely call her up by telephone,” the Frenchman 
continued. ‘‘ For her to leave the sanatorium now, 
in response to such a call, would attract the doctor’s 
suspicion at once. He is probably quite well aware 
of the fact that she knows no one in Brussels. If 
he should have her followed here, and see her meet 
you, he would at once conclude that there was some- 
thing wrong about the whole affair. He is very well 
known here in Brussels, and very powerful. Undoubt- 
137 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


edly he would have you both arrested on some pre- 
text. Once you are searched, and the snufF box taken 
from you, all our work is lost.” 

His earnest face, his frightened tones, disturbed the 
detective greatly. He saw the force of Dufrenne’s 
arguments, yet the thought of leaving Grace to bear 
the brunt of Dr. Hartmann’s anger was not to be 
considered for a moment. He looked out of the win- 
dow in silence for a long time, trying to think out 
some plan that would insure Grace’s safety. A gentle 
tapping at the door caused him to turn. He nodded 
to Dufrenne, who at once went to the door and opened 
it. 

The newcomer proved to be Lablanche, of the Pre- 
fect’s office, whom Dufrenne had met earlier in the 
day. He bowed to Duvall, who knew him slightly, 
then glanced at the sleeping figure on the bed. You 
have been successful, monsieur? ” he inquired eagerly. 

Duvall nodded. “ This fellow ” — he indicated 
Seitz — “ must be taken to London as soon as he is 
in condition to travel. We will leave the matter to 
you.” I 

“ Excellent, monsieur. He shall be well taken care 
of. I presume that you and Monsieur Dufrenne will 
start at once.” 


138 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


“ I desire first, Monsieur Lablanche, to get my wif e 
from the house of Dr. Hartmann.” 

Lablanche gave a low whistle. “ I should not ad- 
vise you to attempt to communicate with her, mon- 
sieur.” 

“ You think her sudden departure would make 
Hartmann suspicious ? ” 

“ Undoubtedly.” 

Then we must arrange for her to come to Brus- 
sels this afternoon on some pretext. If she only had 
some f riends in the city — ” 

“ The American Minister, monsieur ! ” exclaimed 
Lablanche, suddenly. ‘‘ He recommended her to Dr. 
Hartmann. It appears that he was at one time ac- 
quainted with your wife’s people. Perhaps he would 
undertake to telephone to her. That would be en- 
tirely safe. But I beg of you, monsieur, do not let 
the Minister know what your wife’s object in going 
to Dr. Hartmann’s was. He knows her only as Miss 
Ellicott. He vouched for her to Hartmann. If he 
knew that he had been used, it would make him ex- 
tremely angry.” 

For a few moments Duvall stood in silent thought, 
then picking up his hat, went toward the door. “ I 
will see the American Minister at once,” he said, as 
139 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


he went out. ‘‘ Wait for me here, gentlemen. I will 
be back within an hour.” 

Mr. Phelps, the United States Minister, was busy 
in his cabinet when Duvall was announced. He took 
the card from his secretary and glanced at it care- 
lessly. The detective’s name caused him to start. 
“ Richard Duvall,” he said aloud, to his secretary. 
“ Surely it can’t be the well-known detective, yet 
the name — ” He regarded the card, his forehead 
wrinkled with thought. Duvall’s distinguished posi- 
tion as the author of several works on the science 
of criminology was well known to him. “ Show him 
in,” he said, at length, and began to relight his 
cigar. 

Duvall was ushered in, and in a few moments had 
explained the obj ect of his visit. ‘‘ A young lady — 
a Miss Ellicott,” he told the Minister, “ had come to 
Brussels the night before, and had gone to Dr. Hart- 
mann’s as a patient.” Mr. Phelps nodded, and added 
that he had met Miss Ellicott, and had used his in- 
fluence to enable her to obtain Dr. Hartmann’s serv- 
ices. “ The doctor is a great friend of mine,” the 
Minister remarked. I regard him as one of the 

leading scentists of Europe.” 

“ Undoubtedly,” the detective assented gravely. 

140 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


“ I am not acquainted with him, myself. My business 
is with Miss Ellicott.” 

‘‘ Then why have you come here ? ” asked Mr. 
Phelps, with some asperity. The doctor’s house is 
but a few moments’ drive.” 

I know that. But unfortunately I am not ac- 
quainted with Miss Ellicott. She might resent my 
calling on her so unceremoniously. I had hoped that 
you might ask her to come here, so that I might be 
properly introduced to her.” 

The Minister considered the matter carefully. 
Evidently he did not altogether like it. “ You for- 
get, Mr. Duvall,” he said, finally, “ that I myself do 
not know you. Furthermore I certainly have no desire 
to involve Miss Ellicott in any difficulties. I trust,” 
he concluded, uneasily, “ that she is not already so in- 
volved.” 

No.” The detective shook his head. “ Not yet. 
But unless I can have a few words with her in private, 
she soon may be. I am working in her interests. I 
am here to protect her from a grave danger.” Pie 
went toward the Minister, and, taking a package of 
papers from his pocket, placed them in the latter’s 
hand. ‘‘ Here are my credentials. From them you 
will see that I am what I represent myself to be. I 
141 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


cannot undertake to explain to you now the reasons 
which prevent me from going to Miss Ellicott where 
she is. The mere fact that I am unknown to her 
will, I trust, prove sufficient. I wish to say to her 
but a few words. She will be very glad to hear them, 
I know.” 

The Minister returned the papers to Duvall and 
glanced at the clock upon his desk. We are having 
a few friends for dinner to-night, Mr. Duvall. I shall 
ask Miss Ellicott to join us. If you care to be one 
of the party — ” He paused, looking at the other 
questioningly. 

I shall be very glad indeed to accept, Mr. Phelps. 
I assure you that I would under no circumstances 
force myself upon you in this way, were it not for 
Miss Ellicott’s good. And, in order that your other 
guests may not by any chance identify me, may I 
ask that you will introduce me as Mr. Brooks? ” 

The Minister nodded. “ Very well, if you wish it, 
Mr. Duvall. The whole affair strikes me as extremely 
unusual, and did I not know you to be a man of your 
word, I should have nothing to do with it. Under 
the circumstances, I will consent. At least, I feel 
sure that no harm can come to Miss Ellicott while she 
is under my roof.” 


142 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


The detective murmured his thanks. “ You will be 
doing Miss Ellicott a great service, my dear sir,” he 
said. “ And one thing more. When you telephone 
to her, asking her to come, kindly do not mention the 
fact that I have called.” He took the Minister’s hand 
and pressed it warmly. Some day you wiU realize 
the dangers with which Miss Ellicott is being threat- 
ened.” 

On his return to the Hotel Metropole, Duvall found 
everything as he had left it. Seitz was still sleeping 
soundly. Lablanche was reading a newspaper. Du- 
frenne was superintending the placing of Duvall’s 
portmanteau, which had arrived from Paris in re- 
sponse to a hasty wire from him that morning. He 
had been without a change of linen since the day be- 
fore, and the arrival of his baggage was gratifying. 

He informed Lablanche of his plans. I shall dine 
at the United States Minister’s,” he informed them, 
“ as Mr. Brooks. After dinner I shall ask Miss Elli- 
cott’s permission to escort her home. We will take 
a cab and drive to the railway station in time for the 
midnight train for Paris. On my arrival there, I shall 
give the snuff box to Monsieur Lefevre, who will see 
that it is safely returned to the Ambassador in Lon- 
don. You, Lablanche, can go to London with Seitz 
143 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


as soon as the latter is sufficiently recovered * y travel 
— in the morning, let us say. You, Dufrenne, will 
no doubt prefer to return with me to Paris. In that 
event, kindly settle with the hotel people for these 
rooms, and join me at the railway station.” Fie 
paused, opened his traveling case, and drew out a 
suit of evening clothes. 

Lablanche and Dufrenne withdrew into the adjoin- 
ing room, where Seitz lay sleeping. The latter paused 
in the door as he went out. ‘‘ Take care of the snuff 
box,” he said, pointedly. ‘‘ Remember — the honor 
of France.” 


144 * 


CHAPTER Xin 


G race DUVALL went to her room, at Dr. 

Hartmann’s, after her husband’s departure, her 
feelings divided between her joy at his success — for 
she felt that his departure with Seitz meant success 
— and her sorrow at seeing him leave her, without so 
much as a single glance. She felt certain that she 
would hear from him during the course of the after- 
noon, and after eating her luncheon, sat down to read 
a book. 

The afternoon seemed interminable. When at last 
she could bear the inaction no longer, she rose, put 
on her hat, and started down the stairs. As she 
reached the hall, one of the attendants came up to 
her. “ Someone wishes to speak to you at the tele- 
phone, Miss Ellicott,” the woman said. 

Grace hurried to the ’phone, which was placed in a 
small recess half-way down the hall. The woman ac- 
companied her, and stood near by as she took up the 
receiver. Clearly she was listening. Grace deter- 
145 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


mined to speak with caution. It was undoubtedly 
Richard calling. 

When she at last made out that it was the American 
Minister, Mr. Phelps, who was speaking, she felt a 
keen sense of disappointment. She learned that he 
and his wife wished her to come in and dine with them. 
At first she refused, fearful least by going into Brus- 
sels she might miss some word from Richard. Mr. 
Phelps was insistent. They counted on her. He 
would not take a denial. The thought occurred to 
her, momentarily, that possibly Richard had taken 
this means of communicating with her. The idea 
seemed far fetched, and yet — she heard Mr. Phelps’ 
voice, urging her to come, and rather half-heartedly 
she agreed to do so. “ The United States Minister, 
Mr. Phelps, and his wife, have asked me to dine with 
them tu-night,” she said to the attendant. “ Will 
you be so good as to have a cab here for me at half- 
past seven.? ” 

The woman bowed. “ Certainly, mademoiselle,” 
she said, and moved aside as Dr. Hartmann came along 
the hall. 

Grace thought that he looked both puzzled and an- 
gry. He assumed a pleasant expression as he saw 
her, however, and when he spoke she knew he had 
146 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


overheard what she liad just said. “ Dining at the 
Minister’s to-night.? ” he remarked, as he paused for 
a moment. “ A charming man, Mr. Phelps. I maj 
look in later, myself, and bring you home.” Fie 
passed on, his face at once resuming the angry scowl 
which Grace had marked as he approached her. 

She returned to her room, and began her toilette 
for the evening. The small trunk she had brought 
from Paris contained but a limited wardrobe — she 
had not expected anything in the way of social en- 
gagements, in this work that Monsieur Lefevre had 
assigned to her. A gown of black satin, however, 
trimmed with silver, she had put in at the last mo- 
ment. It was very becoming — Richard had never 
seen her in it — she hoped he might come to her, 
before the evening was over. She half -made up her 
mind to speak to Mr. Phelps about it — to ask him 
to telephone to the hotels and attempt to locate Rich- 
ard for her. Then the thought came to her that she 
had represented herself to the Minister as Miss Elli- 
cott. Clearly it would never do to let Mr. Phelps 
know that she had deceived him. 

She arrived at the house early, and after being 
introduced to Mrs. Phelps, went to the latter’s room 
to remove her wraps, and to talk over their mutual 

147 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


acquaintances. None of the other guests had as yet 
arrived. Grace talked to Mrs. Phelps as brightly as 
she could, but her mind was intent upon Richard, 
and she wondered when and how she would hear from 
him. 

Duvall, meanwhile, had been engaged in changing 
his clothes. When he at last put on the white waist- 
coat of his evening suit, he took up the one he had 
worn during the day and removed from it the ivory 
snuff box which had been the cause of his interrupted 
honeymoon. He glanced at the thing carelessly, be- 
fore placing it in his waistcoat pocket, and as he 
did so, he fancied he detected a slight noise in the 
corridor without. In a moment he had thrown open 
the door which lead to the hall. A man — evidently 
one of the hotel servants — was just rising from his 
knees, a small brush in one hand, a dust pan in the 
other. 

Duvall looked at him sharply. The man bowed, 
smiling in a stupid way, then began to withdraw, ex- 
plaining that he was cleaning the hall, and hoping 
that he had not disturbed “ monsieur.” The de- 
tective closed the door, uncertain whether the man had 
been watching him or not. He remembered Du- 
frenne’s waniing, and realized that in going out, 
148 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


alone, this night, he ran some chances of having the 
snuff box taken from him. Of course, it was un- 
likely that Dr. Hartmann had any suspicions of him 
— yet it seemed advisable to put the box in as safe 
a place as possible, at least until he was once more 
across the French frontier. Yet where could he put 
it.? To secrete the thing in his room was out of the 
question. The place might be searched, for all he 
knew, within half an hour of his leaving it. To con- 
ceal it successfully about his person seemed equally 
impossible. Where, indeed, could he hope to hide an 
object of this size, so as to defy a search, in case 
one should be made.? His eyes suddenly fell upon the 
opera hat which he had taken from his portmanteau. 
Fie took it up and gazed at it with a smile, then 
quickly whipped out his knife and began, with great 
care, to detach the inner lining of the crown for a 
distance of perhaps three or four inches. Carefully 
drawing back the lining, he slipped the thin ivory 
box beneath it, and pushed it back into place. The 
lining was of heavy black silk, stiffened by the label 
of the maker which was glued to it. The space be- 
tween it and the crown was considerable. When Du- 
vall had once more fastened the silk in place with the 
aid of a needle and thread wliich he drew from his 
149 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


dressing case, it would have required a very careful 
inspection, indeed, to have discovered that there was 
anything unusual about the hat. Even the added 
weight of the box was not perceptible — its lightness 
prevented that. When he had completed his task, 
the detective suddenly threw open the door and 
glanced into the hall. It was vacant. Evidently he 
had not been observed. 

There were but four guests at the Minister’s that 
night, of whom Duvall and Grace were two. The 
other two were a Mr. and Mrs. Haddon, friends of 
Mrs. Phelps, who were making a short stay in the 
Belgian capital on their way to their home in Lon- 
don. 

The little party, with the exception of Duvall, had 
already assembled in the drawing-room, awaiting his 
arrival. Grace found the Haddons charming and cul- 
tivated people who had traveled all over the world, 
owing to Mr. Haddon’s connection with the English 
Consular service. Mr. Phelps had told Grace that 
they were expecting an American, a friend of his, 
whose name was Brooks, but she did not exhibit much 
interest in the matter. She was becoming more and 
more worried about Richard, and wondered if he 
could, by any possibility, have left Brussels without 
150 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


communicating with her. The thought seemed un- 
believable. 

Dinner was set for eight. As the hour was strik- 
ing, the butler announced Mr. Brooks. Grace glanced 
up carelessly as the latter entered, then her face went 
white, and she started forward with a glad cry. Mr. 
Phelps, who was mumbling an introduction, did not, 
luckily, observe her agitation. Duvall looked at her 
coolly. “ Good-evening, Miss Ellicott,” he said, 
bowing. “ I am delighted to meet you.” 

The shock of the thing almost unnerved her. 

Mr. Brooks,” she managed to gasp, her face crim- 
son. In a moment she became calmer, as she observed 
her husband’s warning look, and began to chat with 
him nervously, as though he were the chance ac- 
quaintance he pretended to be. In a moment they all 
were seated about the dinner-table. He had been 
able to say to her as they left the drawing-room, 
however, unheard by the others, “ I will ask per- 
mission to escort you home.” She nodded, with a 
twinkle in her eyes. All her nervousness and anxiety 
had left her now, and in their place came a delicious 
feeling of happiness at Richard’s presence, and a 
keen sense of adventure that made the blood tingle 
through her whole body. ‘‘ Mr. Brooks ! ” She 
151 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


laughed inwardly at the thought that no one at the 
table but themselves knew that they were husband and 
wife. She proceeded to enter into the spirit of the 
occasion with huge delight, questioning Mr. Brooks 
about his business in Brussels with a keen sense of 
mischief. 

It was along toward the middle of dinner that one 
of the servants came in and handed Mr. Phelps a card. 
Duvall, engaged for the moment in conversation with 
Mrs. Haddon, did not perceive it, but Grace, who 
sat next to their host, experienced a sudden feeling 
of alarm. She observed the Minister’s puzzled face, 
as he excused himself and left the table, and for an 
instant she thought of warning Richard. A moment’s 
thought, however, convinced her of the uselessness of 
the attempt, nor did she indeed know what she could 
say to him. She remembered Dr. Hartmann’s re- 
mark, that he might look in at the Minister’s after 
dinner, to which she had attached no importance at the 
time. Now the thought came to her that the doctor 
was in the reception-room without, and that his com- 
ing, at this time, in the middle of dinner, meant that 
some disaster was impending. 

In a few moments Mr. Phelps reentered the room, 
followed by Dr. Plartmann. The latter was in even- 
152 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


ing clothes, and his face seemed peculiarly forbidding 
and grim. 

“ Dr. Hartmann has consented to join us,” he said 
to his wife. “ Philippe ” — he turned to the butler 
— “ lay another place.” Then he proceeded to in- 
troduce Hartmann to Mr. and Mrs. Haddon and to 
Duvall. 

The latter looked at the doctor calmly. “ I think 
we have met before. Doctor,” he said, in an even 
voice. 

Quite so.” Hartmann’s face showed not a trace 
of emotion of any sort. “ I hope your servant is bet- 
ter.” 

‘‘ Pie’s still asleep,” laughed the detective, then ex- 
plained to the others, in a few words, his adventure 
of the morning. He saw that the Minister was puz- 
zled, but the latter said nothing, at the time, and in 
a few moments the matter was forgotten. Only 
Grace showed any signs of alarm — Duvall went 
calmly on with his dinner as though nothing had 
happened. He spoke to her only occasionally and 
then addressed her with the formal politeness of a 
total stranger. 

Dr. Hartmann was observing liim intently under 
cover of a spirited conversation with Mrs. Phelps. 
153 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


It was clear to Grace that he could not quite under- 
stand why Duvall, or Brooks, as he supposed him to 
be, was dining here at the Minister’s. 

It was quite late when the party rose from the 
table, and, a little while later, Grace, anxious to get 
away from the place, and be alone with Richard, an- 
nounced that she must return home. “ Mr. Brooks 
has kindly olfered to escort me,” she said, quickly, 
fearful that Dr. FTartmann might suggest that she 
return with him. 

The latter smiled coldly, his eyes fixed on her with 
a gleam of suspicion. ‘‘ I think I shall be going my- 
self,” he said, as he took leave of the remainder of 
the party. 

As they reached the sidewalk, Duvall observed the 
taxicab he had ordered to be in readiness, standing 
in front of the door. He helped Grace inside, then 
turned in some hesitation to the chauffeur. He dared 
not tell the fellow to drive to the railway station, 
since Hartmann, who stood beside the cab chatting 
with Grace, would inevitably hear him. He therefore 
instructed the man to go to Dr. Hartmann’s with the 
intention of countermanding tlie order a little later, as 
soon as they had got out of earshot of the house. 
He threw open the door, entered the cab, and was 
154i 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


about to pull the door shut after him when he felt 
his wrist seized from behind in a powerful grasp, and 
before he realized what had happened, Dr. Hartmann 
had stepped into the cab and closed the door. The 
chauffeur at once started off at a great rate. 

“ I’m sure, Mr. Brooks,” said the doctor, suavely, 
as he sat down in the forward seat, his right hand 
still grasping Duvall’s wrist, “ that you will not mind 
taking me home with you. It is a long walk, and I 
fear there are no other taxicabs in sight.” 

Duvall looked at him sternly, then attempted to 
draw away his hand. What do you mean, mon- 
sieur,” he asked, harshly, “ by detaining me in this 
manner? ” He again tried to free his wrist, but the 
doctor was too strong for him. 

Hartmann smiled pleasantly. “ I feared, Mr. 
Brooks,” he said, “ that you might be tempted to use 
the revolver which you have in the pocket of your 
coat.” He reached over quickly with his other hand 
and drew the revolver from the detective’s pocket. 

Grace, through all this, had said absolutely noth- 
ing. She realized how fatal any interruption by her- 
self might be. She did not know of her husband’s 
intention to leave Brussels that night. She had heard 
him order the chauffeur to drive to the sanatorium, 
155 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


Perhaps he wished her to return there. In that event, 
it was imperative that Dr. Hartmann should not know 
that the supposed Mr. Brooks and herself were any- 
thing but the most chance acquaintances. 

“ Doctor,” she cried out, “ what are you doing ? ” 
“ It seems that Dr. Hartmann has suddenly lost his 
senses, Miss Ellicott,” exclaimed Duvall angrily. 

“ Quite so, my friend,” said the doctor, sar- 
castically. “ Just as our poor friend Seitz lost his. 
Don’t try anything like that,” he snarled, suddenly, 
as Duvall attempted to release his arm with a sudden 
twist. “ I have a few questions I desire to ask you, 
Mr. Brooks.” 

“ Questions ? What are they ? ” 

“ I cannot possibly ask them here, in the presence 
of Miss Ellicott. Perhaps you will oblige me by 
stepping into my office for a few moments when we 
arrive at our destination.” 

“ I can spare you five minutes,” said Duvall, sul- 
lenly. He could not help remembering Dufrenne’s 
advice, and regretted bitterly that he had not followed 
it. He had been prepared for almost any contin- 
gency. As he left the Minister’s house, his hand 
clutched a revolver in the pocket of his coat. There 
seemed no way in which Hartmann could prevent him 
156 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


from taking Grace to the railway station. He felt 
so sure of this that he became overconfident. One 
moment only had he been off guard — the moment 
when, with his back to Hartmann, he had stepped into 
the cab. And the latter, seizing upon that instant’s 
slip, had turned the tables upon him so completely that 
he cursed himself in his chagrin. Here he was, headed 
for Dr. Hartmann’s house, on the outskirts of the 
town. Once there, the latter’s attendants could easily 
overpower him and carry him into the place help- 
less. There seemed no possible means of escape. He 
determined to brazen the matter out, and meet Hart- 
mann on his own ground. Resistance would at this 
juncture be useless. He congratulated himself that 
Grace had, by her cleverness, not shown her hand. 
The doctor evidently did not suspect, at least not 
very strongly, that she was anything other than she 
seemed — a patient. He knew he would be searched, 
and hoped that the place of concealment of the snuff 
box would defy even Hartmann. After that, he would 
demand his release, and rely upon Mr. Phelps to get 
it for him. 

He lifted his head and saw that they were at the 
house. Without loosening his hold upon Duvall’s 
arm, the doctor called to the chauffeur, Ring the 
157 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


bell.” The latter did so. In a moment, a servant ap- 
peared. “ Send Max and Rudolph here,” cried Hart- 
mann, and presently two husky young Germans came 
out of the house. Hartmann spoke a few quick words 
to them in their own language and they ranged them- 
selves on either side of the cab door. Then the doc- 
tor threw it open, and released the detective’s wrist. 
“ Get out, if you please, Mr. Brooks,” he said, with 
a sardonic smile. 


158 


CHAPTER XIV 


W HEN Grace arrived at Dr. Hartmann’s that 
night, she was so utterly astonished by the 
course which events had taken that she was scarcely 
able to think. What to do she could not even guess. 
Here was her husband, the man she loved, in the 
power of Dr. Hartmann, and there seemed nothing 
whatever that she could do to help him. Yet how 
could she go quietly to her room, when Richard might 
be in the gravest danger.?* On the other hand, to at- 
tempt any resistance, to let the doctor know, by any 
action on her part, that she and Duvall were work- 
ing in conjunction, would result in nothing but further 
disaster. The thought flashed through her mind that 
by preserving her character of a patient, she might, 
in the morning, communicate with Mr. Phelps, and 
secure his assistance in obtaining Richard’s freedom. 

These considerations came and went in the few 
seconds required for the little party to enter the hall. 
Her husband went first. Dr. Hartmann stood aside 
159 


THE IVORY SNUEF BOX 


to permit her to follow him. Duvall turned as she 
passed through the door, and she heard him whisper, 
in a voice scarcely audible, “ Say nothing.” It was 
the cue she desired. She extended her hand as the 
doctor came in. “ Good-night, Mr. Brooks,” she said, 
quite calmly. “ Thank you for bringing me home. 
I hope we shall meet again, sometime.” 

“ I hope so,” Duvall remarked, indifferently, then 
turned to the doctor. “ Now, monsieur, let us have 
done with this farce as quickly as possible. I have 
no time to waste.” 

“ Nor have I. Good-night, Miss Ellicott.” He 
nodded pleasantly to Grace as she ascended the stairs, 
then addressed one of the two attendants. “ Where 
is Herr Mayer ” he asked. 

“ He is waiting for you in the laboratory, Herr 
Doctor,” the man replied. 

“ Good ! This way, if you please.” He motioned 
down the hall. “ Be so good, Mr. Brooks, as to pro- 
ceed at once.” 

Duvall started off down the hall in no pleasant 
frame of mind. The whole affair had been bungled 
by his stupidity. He passed through the door which 
Hartmann presently opened at the end of the hall, 
and found himself in a long narrow passage, lit by 
160 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


a single electric lamp. Hartmann closed the door 
carefully behind him, and came on down the corridor, 
his footsteps echoing loudly on the concrete floor. 

At the end of the corridor a second door confronted 
them. It was opened by a tall blond man, with a 
reddish mustache and brilliant blue eyes. “ I heard 
you coming,” he said, nodding to Hartmann, then 
looked keenly at Duvall. So this is the fellow, eh.?^ 
Where shall we take him.? ” 

The doctor pointed to an iron door which faced 
that by which they had entered. Between the two 
doors ran a narrow corridor, with an iron staircase 
to the left, leading upward. In here,” he said, 
shortly, and going to the door, opened it with a key 
which he drew from his pocket. 

Again Duvall cursed his stupidity. For a moment, 
thoughts of resistance crossed his mind but he at once 
realized the hopelessness of it, and followed the doc- 
tor into the room. The tall man brought up the rear, 
closing the door silently after him. 

The room was pitch dark. In a moment, however, 
Hartmann had pressed an electric button, and a bril- 
liant light flooded the place. Duvall looked about him 
curiously, and in that fleeting glance saw that the 
room was without windows of any kind, and that 
161 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


the walls, smooth and white, contained no openings 
whatever, except the door by which they had entered. 
The floor, as he could tell by its feel under his feet, 
was of cement. The room was bare of furniture, but 
he perceived a number of boxes and packing cases 
standing about the walls. 

The instant the door was closed, Hartmann sprang 
at the detective and grasped his two wrists. The 
latter had always been considered a powerful man, 
but the arms and shoulders of the doctor were those 
of a Hercules. “ Search him, Mayer,” he said, as 
he pinned Duvall’s wrists together in his iron grip. 

The man addressed as Mayer at once began a sys- 
tematic search of Duvall’s person. With deft fingers 
he explored his pockets, felt the linings of his cloth- 
ing, tore through the contents of his pocketbook. 
The opera hat had fallen to the floor, in the short 
struggle which ensued when the detective found him- 
self in Hartmann’s grasp. Mayer picked it up, 
glanced at it carelessly, then threw it angrily into a 
corner, where it rolled unobserved, into the shadow 
of a large box. 

‘‘ There is nothing here,” he said, in a voice of keen 
disappointment. “ He must have hidden it else- 
where.” 


162 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


“ In his room at the hotel, perhaps — his port- 
manteau,” the doctor said, eagerly, releasing Duvall’s 
hands and throwing him to one side with some vio- 
lence. 

Mayer looked grave. “ I have searched ever^dhing 
thoroughly. It is not there.” 

The doctor muttered an oath. ‘‘ The other — the 
old Frenchman.?” 

“ He was arrested to-night on a charge of irreg- 
ularity in his passport. Nothing discovered. He 
will be released in the morning.” 

“ Teufel! ” The doctor swore excitedly in Ger- 
man. “ Then the other one — the one who was in 
charge of Seitz — he must have it.” 

“ No. He also has been searched, with the same 
results.” 

“May I ask what you are looking for.?” asked 
Duvall, calmly. 

“You know, well enough, Duvall,” exclaimed 
Mayer, turning on him. “ Oh, yes — I know your 
name. The examination of your baggage showed 
that. As soon as I wired to London and discovered 
that the man Seitz had left there last night, I knew 
how we had been fooled. One of our men saw the 
snuff box in your possession just before you left the 

163 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


hotel to go to the house of Mr. Phelps. What have 
you done with it.f^ ” 

Duvall regarded his questioner calmly. “ I do not 
know what you are talking about, gentlemen. I have 
no snuff box, nor do I use tobacco in that form. And 
now, if you have concluded this outrage upon an 
American citizen, perhaps you will let me return 
quietly to my hotel. If you do not, I promise you you 
shall pay heavily for it.” 

His words, for the moment, seemed to disconcert 
the two men. Then Mayer laughed, ‘‘ Nothing but 
bluff, young man — American bluff. I know who you 
are. You followed Seitz here from London, and got 
the snuff box from him by a trick. Now tell us where 
it is.” 

The detective smiled. “ I do not know what you 
are talking about,” he said, quietly. 

Dr. Hartmann growled out an oath. Take off 
his things, Mayer. He may have the box in his 
clothing somewhere — or the heel of his boot. I’ll 
get a dressing-gown, f rom above.” He left the room, 
and Duvall heard him clanking up the iron stair- 
case. 

“ If you insist on removing my clothes,” he said 
to Mayer, “ I prefer to do so myself.” He rapidly 
164 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


stripped off his evening suit and shoes, and threw 
them upon the floor. 

The man gathered them up, feeling each article 
carefully, and testing the heels of the boots with a 
knife which he drew from his pocket. He appeared 
greatly disappointed at not finding the object of his 
search. Then he again examined Duvall, feeling his 
person from head to toe with great care. He had 
just finished when the doctor returned with a long 
gray woolen dressing gown, which he tossed to the 
detective. 

‘‘ He’s hidden it somewhere. He hasn’t got it with 
him,” Mayer exclaimed, angrily. 

“ Take him to the small bedroom in the west wing,” 
said the doctor. “We’ll get it out of him, before 
we’re through. You can leave the clothes in the lab- 
oratory.” He cast his eye about the room to see 
that nothing had been forgotten. Duvall trembled, 
thinking of the hat lying unseen behind the packing 
case in the corner. Hartmann, however, did not ob- 
serve it. Without saying anything further he threw 
open the door, and they all passed into the little hall. 

From there, Duvall was led up the iron staircase 
to the floor above, and found himself in a large room 
which he took to be the doctor’s laboratory. It was 
165 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


dimly lit by means of a reading-lamp. He had a 
confused vision of a number of scientific appliances, 
bulking huge and forbidding in the shadows, and then 
was conducted through a glass door and along a cor- 
ridor similar to the one through which he and the 
doctor had so recently passed on the floor below. He 
judged, from the direction they were taking, that it 
was directly above the lower passagewa}", and led 
back to the main part of the house. 

In this he soon found that he was correct. A door 
at the end of the corridor gave entrance to the upper 
central hall of the main building. He was led off to 
the right, catching a momentary glimpse of a woman 
attendant sitting in a chair near the head of the stairs 
as he passed. In a few moments Hartmann paused 
before a door, threw it open, and turned on the lights. 
The detective saw before him a well-fumished bed- 
room, with two large windows, and another door, which 
he later found gave entrance to a bathroom. The 
dark shadows against the night light without showed 
him at once that the windows were barred. 

He turned to the two men. “ You do not intend 
to release me then? ” he asked, angrily. 

Hartmann laughed. “ You will be quite comfor- 
table here, my friend. I am sure that a few days of 
166 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


complete rest will benefit your condition greatly. I 
imagine your trouble is merely a temporary affliction 
• — a loss of memory, let us say, an inability to recall 
your name. We’ll soon have you all right again. 
You have only to inform me where you have placed 
the snuff box which you stole from my messenger 
thic morning, and I shall know that a complete cure 
has been effected. If your friends are alarmed about 
you, it will be quite sufficient to tell them that you 
are in my care. Mr. Phelps, for instance, has com- 
plete confidence in my ability. I will make it a point 
to explain matters to him at once. Just a trifling 
ailment, a disordered condition of the brain cells. 
A week should set you right again. If there is any- 
thing you wish, the attendants will get it for you. 
Your clothes will be sent up from the hotel in the 
morning. Make yourself quite at home, I beg of 
you.” 

He turned away, with a sardonic smile, and Duvall 
heard the key turn in the door as it closed. He 
glanced at the barred windows, the door, half-open, 
leading to the bathroom, and realized that there was 
not the slightest hope of escape. Dr. Plartmann evi- 
dently intended to keep him a prisoner until he dis- 
closed the whereabouts of the snuff box. He smiled 
167 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


grimly as he threw himself upon the bed. It seemed 
likely that his stay would be a long one. 

After a time he began to think of Grace. How 
cleverly she had carried out her part! It was clear 
that the doctor did not suspect her, or, if he did, 
was unable to see where his suspicions led. How 
strange it seemed to realize that she, his wife, lay 
somewhere under the same roof with him — possibly 
even in the very next room ! But thirty-six hours had 
passed since their wedding and their sudden and un- 
expected parting. During that time, he had seen 
Grace but twice, once, at Hartmann’s office, in the 
morning ; the second time, at the Minister’s that night. 
How he had longed to touch her hand, to put his arms 
about her, to feel liis lips on hers. Yet as matters 
stood, the chances of their seeing each other in the 
near future seemed particularly remote. He won- 
dered if Hartmann would keep him a prisoner in his 
room. The morning, of course, would tell. He 
switched off the lights, got into bed, and after a long 
time fell into a broken sleep. 


168 


CHAPTER XV 


I T was late in the afternoon, when Dr. Hartmann, 
through his man Mayer, discovered that Seitz had 
left London, and should have appeared at his office 
with the snuff box during the forenoon. A descrip- 
tion of Seitz, together with a curious feeling of un- 
easiness which he felt after the departure of the man 
who had introduced himself as Mr. Brooks, caused 
him to conclude that he had been made the victim of 
a clever trick, and one which only his professional 
enthusiasm had made possible. 

He at once set to work, through Mayer and his men, 
to locate Brooks. This was done, without difficulty, 
at the Hotel Metropole. While the doctor followed 
the latter to the Minister’s, firm in his belief that he 
carried the snuff box with him, Mayer had arranged 
through certain connections with the Belgian police, 
to have Dufrenne arrested and placed in confinement 
over night on a trumped-up charge; Seitz liberated, 
and Lablanche held on a pretense of being concerned 
169 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


in the theft from the latter of a valuable package. A 
thorough search of Duvall’s baggage — Dufrenne, it 
seemed, had none — disclosed nothing, except certain 
documents setting forth that the latter was Richard 
Duvall, an American citizen. It was these papers, in 
fact, which Duvall had shown to Mr. Phelps earlier in 
the day. 

There was nothing to indicate to Hartmann that 
Duvall was acting in the interests of the French se- 
cret police, but the doctor suspected it, knowing as 
he did that the recovery of Monsieur de Grissac’s 
snuff box would become at once a matter of the ut- 
most moment to Lefevre and his men. Curiously 
enough, his momentary suspicions of Grace had largely 
disappeared. There was nothing to connect her with 
Duvall. He did not know that it was she who had 
opened the door and admitted Seitz to his house ear- 
lier in the day — he thought that Duvall had done 
this himself. Grace’s manner, her conduct during the 
ride in the cab from the Minister’s house, had shown 
him nothing. Still, he felt that she would bear watch- 
ing and made his plans accordingly. 

The sun was shining through the windows of Du- 
vall’s room when he awoke the next morning. For 
a brief space he was unable to recognize his surround- 
170 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


ings, then the sequence of events came to him with 
a rush. He was conscious of a knocking at the door. 
He sprang up and opened it. Outside stood one of 
the men attendants whom he had seen the night be- 
fore, with the portmanteau containing his clothes. 
The man placed the bag upon a chair, and opened 
it, then withdrew. 

Duvall proceeded at once to dress. He had just 
finished when the attendant returned with an elaborate 
breakfast on a tray. He ate heartily. Evidently the 
doctor had no intention of starving him. Upon the 
table he observed his watch and seals, which he had 
worn with his evening clothes the night before. He 
looked at the watch and saw, to his astonishment, that 
it was after nine o’clock. 

Now that he was dressed, he wondered what he 
should do with himself. It did not occur to him that 
the doctor would do other than keep him confined 
to his room, yet the man who had brought the break- 
fast things had not apparently locked the door when 
he went out. 

Without any clear idea of what he intended to do, 
Duvall went to the door and tried it. To his sur- 
prise, he found it unlocked, and in a moment he had 
passed out into the hall. 

171 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


The house seemed deserted. Even the attendant 
who had sat at the head of the stairs the night before 
was no longer in evidence. He went down to the lower 
floor without seeing any one. As he passed the door 
of the doctor’s office, on his way to the entrance, he 
heard it open, and Dr. Hartmann looked out at him 
with a grim smile. “ Ah — going for a stroll, I see, 
Mr. Duvall,” he said, pleasantly enough. “ It’s a 
fine morning. I hope you enjoy it.” 

Duvall made no reply. He appreciated fully that 
Hartmann was only making fun of him, and realized 
his helplessness. 

Once outside the door, he paused for a moment to 
drink in the beauty of the morning. Straight ahead 
of him stretched the driveway which led to the main 
road. The ornamental iron gate stood invitingly 
open. He went toward it, unconsciously pondering 
upon his situation and what he could do, if anything, 
to escape from it. At the gate he paused, looking 
about carefully to see whether his movements were 
observed. There appeared to be no one near him, 
although along one of the paths to the right of the 
house, he saw several persons walking, whom he judged 
to be inmates of the place. One or two others sat 
on benches among the shrubbery, reading. None of 
172 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


them seemed to take the least interest in his move- 
ments. 

An empty cab passed slowly, the driver on the 
lookout for a fare. For a moment the detective 
thought of escape, his hand came up with a jerk to 
signal the cabman, then suddenly he let it fall with 
an exclamation of dismay. He could not escape — 
he did not dare attempt it, knowing that the snulF 
box, which had already caused him so much anxiety 
and trouble, lay in a comer of the room beneath the 
doctor’s laboratory. First he must get that, before 
he could attempt to escape. He turned slowly back 
toward the house. 

Then suddenly another doubt assailed him. Had 
not Dr. Hartmann allowed him this liberty merely 
-to see whether or not he would take advantage of it? 
Would the latter conclude, now that he had failed 
to do so, that the snuff box was hidden somewhere 
on the premises ? The thought disturbed him greatly. 

Still another consideration occurred to him. If he 
made any attempt to recover the box, would his do- 
ing so not show his captors at once that they had over- 
looked the hat — a chance, indeed, in a thousand? 
The first move he might make toward the room under 
the laboratory, would arouse Hartmann’s suspicions, 
173 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


a search would be made and the hat and its precious 
contents discovered. 

Certainly Ke was tied hand and foot. He dared 
not leave the place, without taking the snuff box with 
him; he dared not attempt to recover it for fear 
its hiding place would thereby be disclosed. He was, 
he suddenly realized, as much a prisoner as though 
he were locked in a cell. And Grace 

The thought of her caused him to glance about 
nervously, and in a moment he saw her coming toward 
him from the direction of the house. She appeared to 
be looking for him, yet when she saw him, she seemed 
in doubt as to what to do. Duvall went up to her. 
“ Good-morning, Miss Ellicott,” he said, in a voice 
clearly audible within the house, were any of the 
windows open. He fancied he detected Hartmann’s 
dark face peering at him from the waiting-room. 

Good-morning, Mr. Brooks,” she said, affecting 
great surprise at seeing him. You are here still.? ” 

“ Oh, yes.” His tone was careless, but as he spoke 
he moved in a direction away from the house, and to- 
ward a small bench that stood beside the driveway. 
‘‘ Dr. Hartmann concluded that I needed treatment 
— I’m afflicted with loss of memory, it seems. Beau- 
tiful day, isn’t it.? ” 


174 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


She murmured some response, waiting for him to 
speak again. Presently he judged the distance from 
the house sufficiently great. No one was near enough 
to possibly overhear them. 

“ The snuff box is hidden — sewn inside of the 
false crown of my opera hat,” he said, in a low voice. 
“ It is in the room under the doctor’s laboratory. He 
does not know it is there, and I don’t dare try to get 
it, for fear he will find out. If you have a chance — ” 
He paused. 

“ I understand.” 

“But be careful — very careful.” 

“ I will.” They sat down upon the bench toward 
which they had been headed. “ I had thought of 
seeing Mr. Phelps to-day, and asking him to have 
you released.” 

“ It would be useless,” he said. “ I cannot go 
without the snuff box.” 

“ Shall I send word to our friends in Brussels.? ” 
she asked. 

“ How can you do that? ” 

She explained the method, by means of the boy who 
drove the delivery wagon. He considered the matter 
carefully. “ Let them know that I am here, and why 
I cannot escape. Tell them that the snuff box is 
175 


THE IVORY SNUEF BOX 


safe — so far. Do not let them know where it is — 
I trust no one with that — except you, dear.” 

The tenderness of his voice thrilled her. She longed 
to grasp his hand — to tell him of the love which filled 
her heart. Suddenly he spoke, quickly, wamingly. 
‘‘ Be careful,” he said. ‘‘We are being watched. 
That man Mayer is observing us with an opera glass, 
from a window of the house. Don’t look at me that 
way. I shall leave you now. Let us meet during the 
afternoon.” He rose, bowed to her carelessly, and 
strolled back toward the house, leaving her disconso- 
late upon the bench. 

He entered the hall aimlessly, not knowing what to 
do next. The situation was one which taxed his re- 
sources to the utmost. No case that he had en- 
countered in his whole experience offered the slightest 
suggestion whereby he might hope to effect a solution 
of his present difficulties. Courage, resource, ingenu- 
ity seemed alike useless. He was helpless. 

Dr. Hartmann appeared in the hall as he entered 
it. “ Come in, Mr. Duvall,” he said, holding open 
the door of the office. “ Suppose we have a little 
chat.” 

For a moment the detective hesitated, then decided 
to meet the doctor’s good nature in kind. “ By all 
176 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


means,” he replied. “ You owe me some explanation 
of your conduct in keeping me here.” 

“ Keeping you here, Mr. Duvall.? Surely you are 
mistaken. The gate is open.” He waved his hand 
toward the lawn. 

“ I have no desire to run away, like a criminal, Dr. 
Hartmann. When I go, I shall go in a dignified way, 
and take my belongings with me.” 

Your belongings!” The doctor seemed im- 
pressed with the remark. “ So you have the snulF box 
hidden somewhere among them, have you ? ” 

Duvall began a hasty denial, but the doctor cut him 
short. “ Absurd, Mr. Duvall,” he exclaimed. “ You 
would leave here quickly enough, if you could take the 
box with you. But where you have concealed it, I 
confess I cannot imagine. I have examined your 
things with the utmost care. It is not among them, 
of that I am certain. I gave you your liberty this 
morning, to see whether or not you would attempt 
to escape. Had you done so I should have known 
that the box was concealed somewhere in the city, or 
else in the hands of your confederates. Now I am 
convinced that it is here. I thought at one time that 
you might have given it to Miss Ellicott — I have 
an idea that there is something between you, although 
177 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


of that I am by no means certain. But I know that 
she hasn’t it, for her belongings were searched with 
equal care, last night, while she slept. The thing is 
a mystery to me, Mr. Duvall, and I compliment you 
upon your ingenuity. Had you been as wise, yester- 
day, as you were clever, you would have left Brussels 
before I discovered the trick you had played on me. 
Why you did not do so — why you foolishly remained 
to dine at the house of Mr. Phelps, I confess I can- 
not see. It is beyond me. But all that is beside the 
case. You have the snuff box — at least you know 
where it is. Are you going to turn it over to me, or 
must I force you to do so.? ” 

Duvall listened to the doctor with an impassive 
face. I know nothing about any snuff box,” he 
returned, with a show of anger. “ You are wasting 
your time. Dr. Hartmann. I have nothing more to 
say on the subject.” He turned his back and gazed 
moodily out across the lawn. 

Hartmann regarded him with a scowl of anger. “ I 
give you until to-night, Mr. Duvall, to do as I ask. 
After that, I shall be compelled to force you to do 
so.” 

The detective shrugged his shoulders and turned to 
the door. “ You use strong words, my friend. If 
178 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


any harm comes to me, my government will know how 
to deal with you.” His threat did not seem to alarm 
the doctor particularly. ‘‘ Do not forget, Mr. Du- 
vall,” he said, with an evil smile, that while I know 
how to cure mental disorders, I also know how to 
create them. Good-moming.” 

The grave threat in his words filled ‘Duvall with 
uneasiness. What did Hartmann mean? Did he 
propose to feed him with drugs, cunningly concealed 
in his food, which would steal away his senses, and 
leave him a babbling child? The thought was terrify- 
ing. Yet he had until to-night. He decided to re- 
turn to his room and think, hoping thus to evolve 
some plan which might prove a solution of his diffi- 
culties. In the afternoon he would communicate it to 
Grace, and she, in return, could send word to Du- 
frenne, so that the latter might cooperate with him. 

He found everything in his room as he had left it, 
and, seating himself by the window, was soon plunged 
in deep thought. The arrival of one of the attend- 
ants with his luncheon some two hours later woke 
him from a maze of profitless scheming. The problem 
was as yet still unsolved. 

After luncheon, he decided to go down and have a 
talk with Grace. By keeping away from the house, 

179 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


and walking through the shrubbery, he hoped to be 
able to talk with her more freely. Much to his sur- 
prise, he found the door of his room once more locked. 
He sat down with a feeling of utter helplessness. The 
net was beginning to close about him. 

Dinner was brought in at seven, and with it a small 
bottle of claret. He made an excellent meal, in spite 
of his unhappy reflections. The claret proved a wel- 
come addition to it. On the tray was also a cigar. 
Decidedly the doctor was thoughtful, he reflected 
grimly. 

Shortly after dinner he began to feel strangely 
drowsy. For a time he resisted the feeling — fought 
against it, but his eyelids seemed weighted with lead. 
Try as he would, he could not keep his eyes open. He 
threw up the window, gasping at the fresh air, but it 
had little effect. He rushed to the door, tried it, 
found it locked as he had expected, then groped to- 
ward the bed and fell heavily upon it, drunk with 
sleep. “ It must have been the wine,” he muttered 
to himself, and in another moment his muscles relaxed 
and he lay unconscious. 


180 


CHAPTER XVI 

W HEN Richard Duvall once more opened his 
ejes, he saw nothing but a blinding glare of 
light, that hurt and bewildered him with its singular 
and brilliant intensity. He closed his eyes again at 
once, unable to bear the irritation which was thus 
caused him. It was not exactly pain that he felt, but 
an intense discomfort, such as one experiences when 
looking directly at the brilliant rays of the sun. 

After a few moments spent in futile attempts to 
cover his eyes with his hands, only to discover that 
his arms were tightly bound, he thought to secure 
relief by turning his face to one side, so that his vision 
might seek the soft darkness which seemed to lie on 
every side of him. In this effort he was equally un- 
successful. His head, his neck, his whole body, were 
rigid, immovable. He could not stir an inch in any 
direction. 

He spent a long time in useless speculation upon 
the meaning of the remarkable situation in which he 
181 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


now found himself. He felt no pain, no discomfort, 
except that which the brilliance of the light above him 
caused. He determined at length once more to open 
his eyes, in order to discover if possible its source. 

Even when his eyes were closed, he could see that 
the strange light burnt upon them. In a way it 
rendered his eyehds translucent — he was conscious 
of a dull pulsing redness through which shot a net- 
work of lines of fire. He opened his eyes slowly, 
cautiously, and looked upward. From some point 
above him, in what he judged must be the ceil- 
ing of the room, extended a beam of violet white 
light, cutting sharply through the darkness like the 
rays of a searclilight. At the opening in the ceil- 
ing through which it came, this beam was in diameter 
not more than two inches, but as it extended down- 
ward, it widened, taking the form of a long, thin, 
truncated cone, so that its width, where it impinged 
upon his face, was perhaps equal to twice that of a 
man’s hand. 

The darkness of the room about him made the 
beam of light seem a tangible, material thing. Its 
brilliance was unwavering — it extended from the ceil- 
ing to the surface of his face with the solidity, almost, 
of some huge, glittering icicle. He felt as though, 
182 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


were his hands but free, he could brush it aside, fling 
it off bodily into the darkness. 

The eflfort of looking directly at the source of the 
light made his eyes smart with pain, but he found 
that by half-closing them, he could look off into the 
darkness, through the brilliant cone. In the pathway 
of its rays danced and tumbled innumerable dust 
specks — he knew then but for their presence, to af- 
ford the light a reflecting surface, its rays would be 
invisible to him. 

In color the light was not yellow, like sunlight, but 
had a cold violet-blue quality, more nearly resembling 
moonlight. Its intensity, as well as the shape of the 
light cone, made him conclude that it was being 
focused through a powerful lens, or projected by 
means of a brilliant reflector. 

He could imagine no possible reason for the situa- 
tion in which he found himself. What the pui-pose of 
the beam of light was; why it thus focused upon his 
upturned face, he could not guess. He thought about 
it for many minutes, his eyes closed, his head strain- 
ing restlessly toward the soft outer darkness. Pres- 
ently there flashed into his mind Dr. Hartmann’s words 
at their last meeting : “ While I know how to cure 

mental disorders, I also know how to create them.” 

183 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


The thought made him shudder. Was this, then, the 
explanation of his predicament? Somewhere he had 
read, not long before, a newspaper account of the 
investigations of certain Italian scientists, concerning 
the effect of the violet and ultra-violet light rays upon 
the cells of the brain. He could not recollect just 
what the conclusions had been, but he did remember 
that the newspaper article spoke of the popular super- 
stition that moonlight could cause insanity. He 
knew Hartmann to be a scientist of vast ability and 
resource, and realized that back of the elaborate 
preparations he had evidently made must lie some sin- 
ister purpose. 

For w'hat seemed an eternity he lay thinking, unable 
to come to any rational conclusion. The distressing 
effect of the light rays increased, rather than dimin- 
ished, as his nerves became more and more unstrung. 
It seemed, even with his eyes closed, that he could 
feel the weight of the cone of light upon his face. 
The desire to escape from its searching glare became 
well-nigh irresistible. How long would this torture 
continue? He began to feel intensely tired and worn 
out and realized that could he but shut out the blind- 
ing brilliancy which enveloped him, he would sink ex- 
hausted to sleep. Sleep ! He could no more sleep, 
184 ^ 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


under the present conditions, than he could fly to the 
moon. Then there came to his mind a recollection 
of a form of torture practised among the Chinese, 
tlie prevention of sleep. Prisoners, he had read, were 
confined in a cage, in brilliant sunlight, and prevented 
from sleeping by being prodded from without with 
spears. At the expiration of a week, he had read, 
the victim goes raving mad. Was this, then, Hart- 
mann’s intention? 

Whatever the man did, he knew he would adopt only 
such methods as would involve him in no damaging 
consequences. He might be kept in his present situa- 
tion until insanity ensued, and Hartmann with his 
reputation as a physician, a scientist, could calmly 
deny any story he might tell, putting it down to 
the wanderings of a disordered brain. He realized the 
cunning of the man, his care to use no physical vio- 
lence. Should he, Duvall, under the strain of the 
torture which he realized lay before him, consent to 
disclose the whereabouts of the ivory snuff box, in 
return for his liberty, what could he do, in retalia- 
tion? Hartmann would calmly deny his story, and 
would doubtless produce witnesses, such as Mayer, to 
prove that the detective came to him for treatment for 
some slight mental disorder, some lapse of memory 
185 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


and that the exposure to the light rajs had been but 
part of his usual treatment. Clearly the doctor had 
covered his tracks most successfully. 

Throughout all these torturing thoughts, the figure 
of Grace came and went unceasingly. What would 
she do — what could she do, to aid him? He had 
warned her not to ask Mr. Phelps to take any steps 
looking to his release. He realized that were Hart- 
mann to appear now, and give him his freedom, he 
would not dare to accept it. That the doctor might 
do this very thing was his greatest fear. If he should 
insist upon his leaving the place, what could he do, 
then, to recover Monsieur de Grissac’s snuff box ? He 
prayed fervently that Dufrenne and his companions 
might in some way work out a plan to set matters 
right. 

Presently he fell to thinking of the snuff box, and 
its safety. How fortunate it seemed, that the doc- 
tor and liis man Mayer had overlooked the opera hat. 
He wondered if they had thought of it since? It 
was clear that they had not, else he would no longer 
be kept a prisoner. What was the room beneath the 
laboratory used for? Its appearance had suggested 
that it was not used at all — a mere lumber-room, 
a place for storing boxes and crates. And then there 
186 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


flashed into his mind the thought, where was he now ? 
From the apparent distance of the ceiling, as shown 
by the beam of light, he concluded that he was lying 
on the floor, a conclusion which the hardness and cold- 
ness of the surface beneath him amply proved. Evi- 
dently it was a floor of stone, or cement, not one of 
wood. A certain sense of familiarity in his surround- 
ings came over him. The faint radiance which was 
diffused about him by the light cone showed the walls 
before and on either side of him to be of uniform black- 
ness, unrelieved by any suggestion of windows. He 
strove v/ith all his power to pierce the shadowy gloom, 
to come upon some point of recognition, but the dark- 
ness baffled him. 

In one corner a huge shadow, bulking formless 
against the wall, suggested the packing case behind 
which his opera hat had been tossed by Mayer dur- 
ing the search the night before. The thought thrilled 
him with renewed hope. What more likely place, after 
all, for Hartmann’s deviltries than this silent room 
beneath the laboratory If he was lying there now, 
and chance of escape should come, h^ might even yet 
be able to take the missing snuff box with him. 

The hours dragged interminably. He was com 
scious of a keen feeling of pain, a smarting irrita- 
187 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


tion, in his eyes, which caused tiny streams of mois- 
ture to trickle beneath their lids and roll unheeded 
down his cheeks. The muscles of his neck became sore 
and swollen, from his incessant though useless effort 
to turn aside his head. A dull pain began to shoot 
insistently through his temples, and his limbs became 
numb and cold. The desire to escape from the re- 
lentless brilliance of the light cone became unbearable ; 
he felt as though, if relief did not soon come, he 
would shriek out in a madness of terror. Then the 
hopelessness of doing so became apparent, and he 
nerved himself with all the power of his will to en- 
dure the ever-increasing torture. Yet this torture 
was, he knew, largely mental — the actual pain was 
by no means unbearable; it was only the dull, in- 
sistent pounding of the light rays upon his eyes, his 
brain, from which he longed to escape. With closed 
eyes and tensely drawn nerves, he waited, watching 
the endless play of the tracery of light in the dull 
redness of liis eyelids. 

The sudden sharp rattle of a key in the door, fol- 
lowed by the turning of the knob, told him that some- 
one was entering the room. He had a momentary 
vision of a patch of light, yellow against the sur- 
rounding blackness, which disappeared almost in- 
188 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


stantly as the door was closed. Then he was conscious 
of a shadowy form beside him, and heard the smooth, 
modulated tones of Dr. Hartmann’s voice. 

“ Well, Mr. Duvall,” he said, ‘‘ how goes the 
treatment.^ Memory any better this morning.?^ ” 

He made no reply. The mockery in the doctor’s 
voice roused him to sudden and bitter anger. 

I’m trying a new modification of the light treat- 
ment upon you,” Hartmann went on, with a jarring 
laugh. “ Dr. Mentone, of Milan, has great hopes 
of it. Wonderful thing, these violet rays! Have 
you read of their use in sterilizing milk.? No.? The 
subject would interest you. How is your mind this 
morning.'^ Somewhat instated, no doubt. Well, 
well, that will soon wear off. You’ve only been 
under the treatment six hours. Scarcely long enough 
to produce much effect. We’ll make it ten, the next 
time. It is necessary to increase gradually, in order 
not to superinduce insanity.” He went to a switch on 
tlie wall and pressed it, and instantly the cone of 
light disappeared. Another movement, and the room 
was flooded with the yellow glow of an electric lamp, 
which seemed dingy and wan, compared with the cold 
brilliance which it displaced. 

The dispelling of darkness brought to Duvall’s 

189 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


brain a rush of sensations, among which the knowl- 
edge that he was once more in the lumber-room be- 
neath the laboratory stood forth with overwhelming 
prominence. He glanced at Hartmann with red- 
dened eyes. ‘‘ Let me up, damn you 1 ” he shouted. 

The doctor bent over him, his face smiling. “ Just 
a moment, Mr. Duvall. Have a little patience.” He 
began to unbuckle several straps, and presently stood 
back, with a wave of his hand. Get up,” he said. 

The detective’s swollen muscles, his stiffened limbs, 
still retained the sensation of being bound ; he 
scarcely realized that his bonds had been removed. 
Painfully he crawled to his feet, and stood before the 
doctor, blinking, trying to collect his faculties. On 
the floor lay a number of broad leather straps, se- 
cured to iron rings which had been let into the cement 
floor. 

His first thought was to make a quick rush at his 
captor, and after overpowering him, secure the snuff 
box and dash from the place. His eyes must have 
shown something of his intention, for Hartmann, 
stepping back a pace, drew his right hand from his 
pocket. It contained an ugly-looking magazine 
pistol. “ Don’t attempt anything rash, Duvall. 
190 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 

It would be useless. Even should you succeed in dis- 
posing of me, which I hardly think possible, you 
could not get away from my man Mayer, who is 
waiting in the corridor outside. Enough of this non- 
sense,” he went on, scowling. I mean to be quite 
frank with you, my friend. I intend to subject you 
to this device of mine — ” he waved his hand toward 
the opening in the ceiling — until you disclose the 
whereabouts of the snuff box. I know it is some- 
where near at hand, either here or in Brussels, for 
your two assistants, whom I have had released, have 
been hanging about the place all the morning. If 
the violet rays have no other effect, they will at least 
prevent you from sleeping, and my experience shows 
that loss of sleep, if persisted in, will shatter the 
best set of nerves on earth. You know what the 
effect is, for six hours. The next time, as I said 
some little while ago, we shall try ten — and after 
that, longer periods, until the process becomes con- 
tinuous. I am giving you these brief respites, at 
first, because I have not the least wish to drive you 
mad — all I ask is the snuff box which you took from 
my messenger Seitz. Give it up, and you can go at 
your convenience. But I must have it — even if I 
191 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


am obliged to drive you to the limit. I advise you to 
save yourself much suffering, and give it to me 
now.” 

The detective drew back his arm — his fist 
clenched. The impulse to drive it into Hartmann’s 
face was overpowering. He turned abruptly on his 
heel, and made no reply. 

Hartmann waited for a moment, then seeing that 
his prisoner was not disposed to answer, went to- 
ward the door. Max,” he called, opening it, “ bring 
in the tray.” The attendant at once entered with 
a waiter containing food, which he placed on a box 
near the door. “ Is that all.^* ” he asked. Hartmann 
nodded and the man withdrew. 

“ Think the matter over, Mr. Duvall,” the doctor 
remarked, as he stepped across the threshold of the 
door. “ I shall call upon you again, later in the 
day.” 

Duvall waited until the door had been closed and 
locked, and the doctor’s footsteps had died away up 
the iron staircase. He heard them for a moment, 
on the floor of the room above, then all was quiet. 

In a moment the detective had stepped to the large 
box in the corner, behind which lay, he believed, the 
192 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


discarded opera hat. At a glance, he saw that it 
was still there. He was about to stoop and pick it 
up, when a sudden fear swept over him. Suppose 
he was being watched. The doctor was in the room 
above. The presence in the room of the beam of 
light showed clearly that there must be an opening 
in the ceiling, into the laboratory. For all he knew, 
Hartmann might be observing his every movement.. 
He stopped in his attempt to pick up the hat, and 
pretended to be greatly interested in the box and 
its contents. After making a careful examination of 
the labels upon it, he strolled carelessly back to the 
other side of the room, and ate the breakfast which 
the attendant had left. He supposed it to be break- 
fast, although he had no realization of the time. In 
a moment he felt for his watch, and found that it 
was still in his pocket. When he consulted it, how- 
ever, he saw at once that it had run down. 

After his meal, he began to feel terribly tired and 
sleepy. At first he fought off the feeling, realizing 
that his only hope of freedom lay in keeping awake, 
with all his senses alert. Then he thought of the nerve- 
racking hours through which he had just passed; 
the many more which were likely to follow, and de- 
193 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 

cided that he must have rest at any cost. He threw 
himself upon the floor, his head pillowed upon his 
arm, and was soon sleeping the deep sleep which fol- 
lows utter exhaustion. 


194 


CHAPTER XVII 


A ll during the afternoon of the day upon which 
she had first met her husband during his con- 
finement at Dr, Hartmann’s, Grace Duvall wandered 
about the place, looking for him, waiting with grow- 
ing fears for his appearance. When evening came, 
and she had failed to find him, she became greatly 
alarmed. In her excitement, she forgot the word she 
had agreed to send into Brussels by the boy who drove 
the delivery wagon, and was just returning to the 
house when she heard someone calling to her from the 
drive. She turned and saw that it was the bread 
boy, who had stopped his cart some little distance 
from the veranda. 

‘‘ Mademoiselle,” he called, “ you have dropped 
your handkerchief.” He pointed with his whip to 
a white object which lay in the roadway close be- 
side the wheels of the cart. She had not dropped 
her handkerchief — she knew that it was at that mo- 
ment tightly clenched in her left hand, but she un- 
derstood. 


195 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


Thank you,” she called, and hurried toward him. 
The boy, meanwhile, had climbed down from the 
wagon, and picking up the handkerchief, which he 
had himself secretly dropped, handed it to her, with 
a polite bow. She felt, as she clutched the bit of linen, 
that within it lay a note. 

He is here,” she said quickly, in an undertone. 

The box is safe. It is hidden. They have not 
yet discovered it. But I am afraid something ter- 
rible has happened to Mr. Duvall. Tell them to send 
help, quick.” She turned away, and the boy mounted 
his box, whistling gayly, and at once drove off. 

Grace hurried to her room, to examine the note 
within the handkerchief. She could hardly wait to 
see what it contained. The contents were a great 
disappointment to her. “ Leave the house about ten 
o’clock to-morrow morning,” it said. That was all. 
She had already decided to do this, in order to effect, 
if possible, her husband’s release. So far as the snuff 
box was concerned, she felt that she did not care 
whether the doctor discovered it or not, if only she 
might know that Richard was safe. All during the 
evening she wandered aimlessly about the house, hop- 
ing each minute that she might come upon him, but 
196 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


her search was in vain. Richard Duvall seemed to 
have vanished completely. 

Once she met the doctor, just as she had given 
up in despair and was returning to her room. He 
spoke pleasantly enough, asked her how she felt, and 
showed much concern that she had refused to eat any 
supper. ‘‘ You must eat, mademoiselle,” he told her. 
“ Have you taken regularly the tonic I prescribed? ” 
She nodded, not considering it necessary to inform 
him that she had carefully poured it, dose by dose, 
into the sink. For a moment she thought of asking 
him what had become of Mr. Brooks, but she feared 
to rouse his suspicions. “ I’m feeling somewhat out 
of sorts,” she said. I’ll be all right in the morn- 
ing.” 

“ I am gratified to observe,” he remarked, as she 
left him, ‘‘ that you had no tendency to walk in 
your sleep last night. I trust the improvement will 
continue. Good-night.” She could not determine 
whether or not there lay any hidden meaning back 
of his words. His mirthless smile somehow made her 
feel uncomfortable. 

His words, however, inspired her to form a new 
plan. She would go to the laboratory that night, if 

197 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 

she could by any means escape the vigilance of the 
woman on guard in the hall, and find out, if possible, 
whether or not Richard was confined there. From the 
windows of her room, which faced the rear of the 
house, she could see plainly the small square brick 
building in which the laboratory was located. There 
were lights in the floor on a level with her windows 
— that, she knew, was the room in which she had 
seen Hartmann sitting at his desk, on the night of 
her arrival. But there were, she knew, rooms both 
above and below this one, and in the latter lay hidden 
the Ambassador’s snuff box. Was Richard confined 
there, as well.?* She determined to find out. 

The woman who sat on watch in the hall came to 
her room at half-past ten and looked in to see if she 
required anything. Grace, who was just getting in- 
to bed, told her that she did not, said good-night 
sleepily, and asked her to turn off the lights. The 
woman did so, and closing the door softly, retired. 

Grace lay in bed a long time, wondering how she 
could get down the hall, and into the passageway 
leading to the laboratory, without being observed. 
There seemed no possible way of accomplishing this, 
yet she was determined to attempt it. Her thoughts 
were interrupted by the faint ringing of an electric 
198 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


bell. She knew it was the one in the hall, near where 
the nurse sat, by which any of the patients, desiring 
her presence during the night, might summon her to 
their rooms. Grace slipped out of bed, opened her 
door the slightest crack, so that she could command 
a view of the hall, and peered out. She saw the 
nurse coming toward her with a glass of water in her 
hand. She disappeared for a moment into a room 
across the corridor, then reappeared almost at once 
and resumed her seat at the head of the stairs. 

Grace was disappointed. She had been on the 
point of starting out, when the woman’s reappear- 
ance prevented her. She crouched on the floor beside 
her door, waiting until the nurse should again be sum- 
moned away. 

She waited for hours. She heard the church bells 
in the city, far off and muffled, booming the hour of 
midnight. The nurse on the chair yawned and 
nodded. After what seemed an eternity, she heard 
one o’clock strike, and then two. The house was 
shrouded in silence. Her knees were cramped and 
cold, from contact with the floor; her whole body 
seemed sore, from the nervous tension of her posi- 
tion. She almost screamed, when the electric bell 
suddenly rang out again, its sound intensified by the 

199 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


stillness until it seemed as though it must wake every- 
one in the house. 

The nurse rose sleepily, glanced at the indicator 
on the wall which informed her from which room the 
summons had come, and started down the corridor to- 
ward the west wing of the building. As she passed 
beyond the circle of light cast by the electric globe 
in the central hall, Grace pushed her door open and 
slipped noiselessly out. For a moment she hesitated, 
saw the woman enter a room midway of the corridor, 
then flew like the wind toward the door which gave 
entrance to the passageway leading to the laboratory. 
Her bare feet made no sound, she gained the door 
without being discovered, and in an instant had swung 
it open, and was standing in the long covered way 
outside. She drew the door to after her noiselessly, 
then sank upon her knees and listened. In a short 
while she heard the nurse come shuffling down the cor- 
ridor, and the creaking of her chair as she sank 
heavily into it. So far, she felt that she was safe. 

She advanced along the corridor with great cau- 
tion. Her chief fear was that the door of the labora- 
tory might be locked, in which case, she would be 
unable to proceed further. When she reached it, 
and felt it yield as she slowly turned the knob, she 
200 



There lay Richard, her husband, upon the floor, his face encircled by a 
ring of blinding light 



THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


heaved a sigh of relief. In a moment she was in 
the laboratory. 

The room was unlighted, save for a faint glow 
which came from a small black box in the center of 
the floor. She had no idea what this box was, but 
noticed that heavy wires ran to it, from each side, 
and that there were several protuberances upon its 
top, which shone like brass. She did not stop to 
examine it further, however, but looked about for 
some means of reaching the room below. The idea 
of recovering the snulf box had suddenly occurred to 
her. With that in her possession, Richard, she be- 
lieved, need no longer hesitate to escape at the first 
opportunity. He had told her that it was hidden 
in the room beneath. She ran quickly down the steps 
which she observ’^ed in one comer, feeling a glow of 
excitement at the daring of her quest. 

At the bottom of the stairs she found a narrow 
little corridor with a heavy door opening on it which 
she judged led into the room she desired to enter. 
The corridor was lighted by a single window at the 
end opposite the staircase, through which came a faint 
light from without. 

She groped about in the semi-darkness until she 
found the knob of the door and slowly turned it, 
201 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


pressing her weight against the panels. It did not 
yield. With a sickening feeling of disappointment 
she realized that it was locked. 

She stood still for a momeht, wondering what she 
should do next. Suddenly she shuddered, and a hor- 
rible faintness came over her. From within the room 
she distinctly heard the slow moaning of someone 
evidently in great pain. Thoughts of Richard at 
once rushed through her mind; she flung herself on 
her knees, in an agony of fear, and sought frantically 
for the keyhole. At last she found it, and looked 
into the room. The sight that met her gaze sent 
her reeling backward. There lay Richard, her hus- 
band, upon the floor, his face encircled by a ring 
of blinding light, by which she could see, with fright- 
ful distinctness, the ghastly expression of his fea- 
tures, the lines of agony about his eyes and mouth. 

For a moment she beat frantically upon the door, 
calling to him incoherently. She thought he did not 
hear her, for he did not turn his head. Then she 
stopped, frightened at what she had done. Suppose 
the doctor were to overhear her.? Everything would 
be lost. There was but one chance for Richard now, 
she felt, and that lay with her. She would leave the 
house, in the morning, proceed at once to the Min- 
202 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


ister’s, and tell him the whole story. Snuff box or 
no snuff box, she was determined to rescue her hus- 
band from his present situation, if it was not already 
too late. 

For a long time she looked into the room, watch- 
ing the face, grim and silent in the circle of light. 
She called to him over and over, softly, telling him 
of her plans, of her love for him, of her sorrow, 
but he seemed not to hear. But for the twitching of 
his face, and the low moans which he uttered from 
time to time, she might have supposed him dead. 

How she got back to her room, she could scarcely 
have told. She staggered up the stairs into the 
laboratory, out along the corridor, and at last reached 
the door leading into the main building. She pushed 
this silently open, and gazed cautiously into the hall. 
The nurse sat in her chair, apparently asleep. With 
the utmost care, Grace managed to enter the hall, 
and to close the door behind her. Then seeing that 
the woman was rousing, she determined upon a bold 
plan. She opened her eyes wide, trying to give them 
a vacant, staring appearance, and with arms extended 
started toward the nurse. 

The latter rose with an exclamation of alarm, then 
recognizing the sudden apparition as Grace, came up 
20S 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


to her, took her by the arm, and led her back to her 
room. She sank helplessly upon the bed, and pre- 
tended to fall asleep. Whether the woman suspected 
her or not, she could not tell — she noticed that she 
locked the door, on leaving the room. 

The hours until dawn seemed interminable. She 
lay in bed, praying that there might yet be time 
in which to save Richard from Hartmann’s machi- 
nations. What it was that the latter was doing to him, 
she could not guess, but the look of agony on Du- 
vall’s face told her that his sufferings, from some 
cause, were very great. 

After a long time the day broke, and she dressed 
and managed to choke down a little breakfast. She 
kept in her room until long after nine o’clock, not 
daring to leave the house before ten. Dr. Hart- 
mann came in just as she was preparing to go. She 
saw him glance quickly toward her hat, as she put 
it on. “ I’m going in to the city, this morning, 
doctor,” she said, carelessly. “ There are a few 
things I must get at one of the shops.” 

He nodded, as though the matter were quite un- 
important. “ You had another attack, last night. 
Miss Ellicott,” he said. “ I regret that the symptoms 
have recurred.” 

^04 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


“ Did I? What did I do? ” she inquired, wide- 
eyed. 

“ Nothing, luckily. Walked down the corridor a 
short distance, the nurse tells me. She stopped you 
before you got very far.” He regarded her with 
his keen professional look. Strange — you do not 
appear abnormally nervous. I fear I shall have to 
begin the hypnotic treatment at once.” 

She paid but scant attention. If she could ac- 
complish what she hoped, this morning, neither Dr. 
Hartmann nor his treatments would matter in the 
least to her. ‘‘ I am sorry it will be necessary,” she 
said, “ but of course you know best.” 

When she left the grounds, she watched carefully 
to see if she was being followed, but there was noth- 
ing to indicate that such was the case. At the cor- 
ner below, a small, youngish-looking man turned in 
behind her. He appeared to have been walking 
rapidly, but she had no particular reason to believe 
that he was following her. 

She made at once for the center of the town, de- 
termined to walk the distance rather than wait to 
find a cab. On the way she passed several stores, 
and it occurred to her to stop in at one of them and 
buy a pair of gloves, to lend color to her excuses. 
^05 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


She did so, and was just going out again when she sud- 
denly came face to face with the young man she had 
thought was following her. Miss Ellicott,” he said, 
raising his hat, and as his hand was poised before 
her eyes, she saw on his finger a ring similar to the 
one which had been given her in Paris by Monsieur 
Lefevre, on the day of her departure. She colored, 
started to pass on, then stopped. “ Good-morning,” 
she gasped, faintly. 

“ Pm so glad to see you,” he rattled on. Don’t 
you remember our being introduced, at dinner one 
night, in Paris. I’m delighted to meet you again. 
On your way down-town, I suppose? ” His remark 
seemed a question. She answered it at once. “ Yes, 
a Httle shopping to do, and then I thought of stop- 
ping at the house of some friends — the United 
States Minister,’^ she added, by way of explanation. 

The stranger bowed. May I have the pleasure 
of accompanying you ? ” he asked. “ I also am go- 
ing in that direction.” 

Grace assented, and they went out together. At 
the door the man summoned a cab. It is safer,” 
he whispered. “We may be observed.” 

Once inside the cab, which was a closed one, the 
young man began to ply Grace with questions. “ I 
206 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


am one of Monsieur Lefevre’s men,” he told her, 
noting her momentary hesitation. “Be quite frank, 
please, and tell me everything.” 

When she had finished her story, he sat in silence 
for a long time. Then he turned to her with a ques- 
tion which made her think he had suddenly lost his 
mind. “>Has Dr. Hartmann a phonograph in the 
house ? ” he inquired. 

“ A phonograph ? ” she looked at him curiously. 

“ Yes — yes.” His voice betrayed his excitement. 
“ We must send a message to Mr. Duvall. Your 
windows oveilook the room where he is confined. He 
may hear it. It is the only way.” 

“ Yes,” she said, after a moment’s thought. 
“ There is a phonograph in the library — a small one. 
It is seldom used. But Dr. Hartmann — ” 

“ Listen to me,” he interrupted, “ and do exactly as 
I say. Pretend to be ill. Ask Dr. Hartmann’s per- 
mission to have the instrument moved to your room. 
Then play the records which I am about to get for 
you.” 

She gazed at him, scarcely understanding. 
“ But — ” she began. 

“ Of course you will play other records, as well, but 
this one you must play often — as often as pos- 

£07 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


sible. I do not know that Mr. Duvall will unaerstand 
what the message is — it is a chance, but we must 
take it. I myself do not understand it very clearly, 
but the suggestion comes from Monsieur Lefevre him- 
self. You know him. He has your husband’s safety 
at heart.” He leaned out, giving a few rapid in- 
structions to the cabman, and then once more turned 
to Grace. 

“ Do not visit the house of the United States Min- 
ister. It will be most unwise. As soon as he learns 
that Mr. Duvall and yourself are at Dr. Hartmann’s 
house as spies, he will of necessity refuse to assist 
you further. Should he not do so, should he demand 
Mr. Duvall’s release, nothing would be gained, since 
the snuff box would of necessity be left behind. Dr. 
Hartmann will not injure your husband — he is too 
anxious to get possession of the snuff box for that. 
We will try the phonograph, to-day, and if that 
means is unsuccessful, we must make an attempt to 
regain the box, and release your husband by force.” 

As he finished speaking, the cab drew up at a 
music store. The stranger sprang out, and in a few 
moments reappeared with a small package in his 
hand. He handed it to her, then removed his hat 
and bowed. “ I would suggest, mademoiselle, that 
208 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


you return at once, and make use of this as I have 
directed. If anything further occurs, send word by 
the delivery boy to-night.” He bowed, and walked 
rapidly down the street. 

Grace sadly ordered the cabman to return to Dr. 
Hartmann’s, and then sat back, her mind torn by 
conflicting emotions. The whole thing seemed in- 
explicably mysterious and confusing. Here was 
Richard, her husband, suffering she knew not what 
agonies at Dr. Hartmann’s hands, and these people, 
who ought to be attempting to liberate him, asked 
her to play upon the phonograph. She tore open 
the package which the young man had handed her, 
and glanced at it eagerly. Its title told her no more 
than the stranger himself had done. She read it 
over and over, aimlessly. It was The Rosary, 


^09 


CHAPTER XVIII 


T he dull, heavy sleep into which Richard Du- 
vall had fallen, after Dr. Hartmann had left 
him, was suddenly disturbed by the realization that 
someone had seized him roughly by the arms. He at- 
tempted to rise, struggling instinctively against the 
two men who, he dimly saw, were bending over him, 
but his resistance was useless. In a moment the 
leather straps which encircled his wrists and ankles 
had been drawn tight, and he felt himself being lifted 
bodily and deposited on the floor in the center of the 
room. At first he cried out, cursing his captors 
loudly, but an instant’s reflection showed him how 
profitless his remonstrances were, and he allowed him- 
self to be bound to the floor in silence. In a moment. 
Dr. Hartmann — the detective saw that it was he, with 
Mayer — had switched on the violet light, and he 
once more felt its blinding radiance upon his face. 

Hartmann opened the door. “ I shall be back 
again in a few hours,” he said, as he left the room. 
210 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


I hope that by that time you will have quite re- 
covered your senses.” 

The detective made no reply. He had definitely 
made up his mind upon one point: he was not going 
to purchase his freedom at the expense of his duty. 
The unfortunate situation in which he now found him- 
self was, he knew very well, entirely his own fault, 
and his desire to atone for his momentary careless- 
ness made him determined not to accede to Dr. Hart- 
mann’s demands. He hoped that his friends outside 
— Lablanche, Dufrenne, even Grace — might be able 
to come to his assistance. If he could only know 
that the snuff box was safe in Monsieur Lefevre’s 
hands, the rest did not matter much. 

These thoughts passed through his mind as he lay 
with .closed eyes, his face quivering under the daz- 
zling light which fell upon it. Its intensity was, 
he thought, greater, if anything, than it had been 
before, and the irritating effect upon his eyes more 
pronounced. He did not open his eyes at all, on this 
occasion, for fear even a momentary exposure would 
increase their sensitiveness. 

Slowly the day passed. He concluded that it was 
afternoon, when he heard far off a bell striking the 
hour of two, although it might equally well have 

an 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


been two o’clock in the morning, for all he could tell. 
There was a faint hum of conversation in the labora- 
tory above him, which convinced him that it was 
still day. 

Presently his ear, acutely sensitive to the slightest 
noise which might disturb the stillness about him, 
became aware of a faint sound of music, which seemed 
to come to him from a long distance off. It was 
a popular French march, and from a certain quality 
of the notes he concluded that it was being played 
upon a phonograph. The strains of the music dis- 
tracted him, took his mind from the things about him, 
and as he listened to it, it seemed that the effort of 
keeping his eyes tightly closed grew sensibly less, 
the blinding pressure of the unwavering light cone 
upon his face appreciably easier to bear. He knew 
that this was but a momentary relief, but he welcomed 
it eagerly. Lying in this terrifying silence, under 
the cruel glare of light, had become frightful — he 
wondered if, after all, his nerves, his mind, could long 
stand the strain. 

The music stopped suddenly. He found himself 
eagerly hoping that there would be more. In a few 
moments it began again, and he was listening to the 
familiar strains of The Rosary, He had always liked 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


the song — Grace, too, had been fond of it. He 
wondered if she could be playing to him, trying to 
soothe his fast-shattering nerves with music. It 
pleased him to think that it might be so, although he 
had no reason to suppose that Grace knew of the 
torture to which Dr. Hartmann was subjecting him. 

After a time, the final strains of The Rosary died 
away, to be followed by a German march, played by 
some military band. This, too, he was glad to hear, 
although he found himself thinking that he preferred 
The Rosary. As if in answer to his thoughts, it be- 
gan again — he found himself repeating the words to 
himself mechanically, and thinking of Grace. 

The music continued for long over an hour. Du- 
vall noted with surprise that while there were many 
other selections. The Rosary was played almost 
every other time. So often, in fact, did its strains 
break the stillness, that he became annoyed — in his 
nervous state this constant repetition of the song 
worried him. After a time he shuddered when he 
heard it, hoping that each time would be the last. 
No one but an imbecile, he muttered to himself, could 
enjoy playing a piece over and over in that aimless 
fashion. When at last the impromptu concert had 
ceased, and the silence about him was once more un- 
213 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


broken, be found himself puzzling in vain over the 
matter, as though it had become of vast importance 
to him. 

After the music ceased, he realized how much it 
had helped him to endure the two or more hours 
which had elapsed since Hartmann left him. His real 
tortures were only just beginning. The constant 
blaze of light on his face, the ceaseless eflPort to keep 
his eyes closed, to turn his head away, in spite of 
the bonds which prevented it, once more almost 
frenzied him. He fell to wondering whether Hart- 
mann had been in earnest, when he told him of the 
qualities of the violet rays. Could they in any way 
affect his mind.? The mere thought stimulated his 
imagination to such an extent that already he was 
convinced that his senses were wandering — that his 
mind was becoming sluggish and dull. 

As hour after hour passed, this thought became 
almost a certainty. His head began again to ache 
terribly, his eyes seemed to swim in pools of hquid 
fire. Bright flashes of light darted through his brain, 
and at times it seemed almost on fire. The pain 
wliich the constant effort to turn his head caused, was 
becoming more acute as each minute passed — he felt 
constantly on the point of screaming out in terror 
214 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


— begging for release — agreeing to do anything 
they asked of him. Then with a mighty effort of the 
will he would calm himself, and closing his eyes 
tightly once more, determine to endure until the end. 

After an interminable period, the sound of the music 
once more fell upon his troubled brain. This time the 
strains sounded more distinct and clear. Three times 
in rapid succession The Rosary was played, then sud- 
den silence. He waited in vain for more — dreading 
the recurrence of the song, yet expecting it, as one 
expects the continuance of any oft-repeated sound. 
There was nothing further, however, and once more 
the silence became like the darkness about him, a grim 
and positive thing. 

Hours later, when his brain reeled endlessly in a 
blazing redness, and his tortured eyes seemed bursting 
from their sockets, the cone of violet light vanished 
as though some silent hand had brushed it aside, and 
in the reaction he fainted. 

He awoke again to find himself lying on the floor, 
with Hartmann bending over him, feeling his pulse. 
In a fit of rage, he struck out with his clenched 
hand, and missing, scrambled to his feet. The room 
was faintly ht by the single electric globe, and he 
Mayer and Dr. Hartmann confronting him, the 
S15 


saw 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


latter with a revolver in his hand. Once more he rea- 
lized the futility of resistance, and sank against a 
packing box, his hand covering his burning eyes. 

The latter appeared to be no longer in his former 
state of sardonic good nature. Are you ready to 
tell us what you have done with the box.^^ ” he snarled. 

Duvall made no reply, and this angered the doctor 
still further. “ I’ll give you an hour to think the mat- 
ter over,” he said, furiously. “ And if you don’t 
come to terms by that time, you shall stay under 
the influence of the light until you do.” He turned 
toward the door, followed by Mayer, and in a moment 
they had left the room. 

Duvall, in his pain and distress, realized that some- 
thing would have to be done at once, within the next 
hour, in fact, or he would be obliged to give up. Phys- 
ical torture he could stand, but to lie here silently, 
under that cruel radiance, and realize that his brain 
was slowly giving way, he felt he could not endure. 

Yet what was there that he could do.?^ The walls 
of the room, of solid brick, he could not hope to pene- 
trate. The door, of iron, a dozen men could not break 
through. Fie forced his shoulder against it, and 
laughed bitterly as he realized that with all his 
strength he could not even cause it to give the frac- 
216 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


tion of an inch. He determined to get the snuff box 
— to examine it — reckless of his fear of being ob- 
served. In a moment he had snatched the opera hat 
from the comer, tom out the lining, and held the 
box in his hand. 

He paused for a moment, listening intently. 
Everything about him was still. There were no 
sounds from the laboratory above. He remembered 
now that he had not heard Hartmann and his com- 
panion ascend the iron stairway. Doubtless they had 
returned to the main building by means of the lower 
corridor. 

In a moment he had hung the torn opera hat over 
the knob of the door, to prevent anyone from observ- 
ing him through the keyhole, and going directly be- 
neath the bracket which held the electric globe, pro- 
ceeded to examine the box carefully. 

The first thought that came to his mind, filled him 
with a strange feeling of hope. He had no more than 
glanced at the top of the box when he saw what he 
had previously failed to observe, that the circle of 
pearls upon its top formed a rosary, which was com- 
pleted by the ivory cross in the center. The Rosary ! 
Why had this song been so persistently and continu- 
ously played? Was it for him, some message, in- 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


deed, intended to show him a way out of his diffi- 
culties? Yet if so, to what did it lead? There was 
a rosary upon the top of the box, it is true, but 
what of it? Absently he began to count the pearls, 
hardly realizing what he was doing. One of them, he 
noted, the one at the very top of the cross, was larger 
than the others, and he started here, slowly counting 
around the circumference of the box. His eyes 
pained him frightfully, and twice he lost count and 
had to begin all over again, but on the third at- 
tempt he discovered that the pearls numbered twenty- 
six. Even yet, the significance of this fact did not 
occur to him — he began to count the pearls again, 
mechanically. 

Then suddenly, in a flash, the thing came to him. 
Twenty-six pearls — twenty-six letters in the alpha- 
bet. Evidently the box, in some way, formed a 
cipher, a secret alphabet, which might be used in 
correspondence, or in the preparation of important 
documents, yet how — how? 

With repressed eagerness he held the box more 
closely to the hght, searching its surface for some 
further clue. At once he noticed the arrangement 
of the concentric circles of letters which made up the 
Latin prayer. The words were so written that each 
218 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


letter stood opposite a pearl, and reading inward from 
each pearl, there was a row of letters six deep reach- 
ing almost to the center of the box. Clearly here 
were six different ciphers, that is, six circles of 
twenty-six letters each, any one of which might 
constitute a working cipher. It was only neces- 
sary to call the big pearl at the top “ -4,” and 
here were six different letters opposite it, any one 
of which, in a system of cipher writing, might be 
used as the letter A, 

Duvall, however, knew enough about ciphers to 
know that such an arrangement constituted no cipher 
at all, in other words, that ciphers so simple, so 
readily solved, as this, would never be employed in 
any case where absolute secrecy was imperative. He 
felt that there was something more to the matter 
than he had so far discovered. 

Suddenly he saw that, just beyond each pearl, was 
engraved on the ivory rim of the box a number — 
starting with the large pearl at the top as number one, 
the circle of numbers ran around the edge of the 
box until it returned to its starting point, at number 
twenty-six. In his efforts to see these numbers, which 
were very small, he gripped the box tightly in his 
hands to hold it the more steadily toward the rather 
219 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


dim light. In doing so, he suddenly became aware of 
the fact that the rim or edge of the box, containing the 
numbers and the circle of pearls, was movable. It 
fitted so cunningly into the top of the box, that the 
joint appeared not as a crack or perceptible space, 
but merely as a fine thin line, apparently a part of 
the engraving on its surface. Holding the lower part 
of the box firmly in his left hand, he turned the rim 
of the top slowly about. At once the purpose of this 
became apparent. Not only had each pearl, repre- 
senting a letter of the alphabet, six corresponding 
values from rim to center, in any one position, but by 
turning the rim around, twenty-six such positions 
could be secured, making a total of one hundred and 
fifty-six different alphabets from which a person de- 
siring to use a cipher might choose. 

Again, however, Duvall was conscious of a feeling 
of disappointment. One hundred and fifty-six dif- 
ferent ciphers were no better than a single one, if only 
one were used. Evidently he had not yet reached the 
solution of the problem. In employing such a sys- 
tem of ciphers, some combination, precisely similar 
to the combinations used on the locks of safes, would 
have to be used. It was absolutely necessary, in 
order to insure safety, to use not one cipher, but a 
220 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


large number, changing the arrangement of the let- 
ters with each line written — even with each word, 
in order to defy solution. Yet such an arrangement 
being purely arbitrary, could not well be trusted to 
memory, for, once forgotten, the translation of the 
document written, even by the writer himself, would 
be absolutely impossible. It occurred to him that 
as there were six different concentric lines of letter- 
ing, each constituting in itself a complete cipher, the 
obvious way to use the box would be to place the 
pearls in a given position, write six words, using a 
different alphabet for each word, and then shift the 
ring of pearls to a new position, and repeat the opera- 
tion. This, of course, could be done indefinitely, al- 
though half a dozen changes would be sufficient to 
insure a cipher that would absolutely defy solution. 
Where, however, was the key.f* That, after all, was 
the important matter ; without it, the snuff box would 
be as useless to Monsieur de Grissac as it would 
be to his enemies themselves. 

For many minutes Duvall puzzled over the matter, 
unable to reach any satisfactory conclusion. Then 
he began to think of the song which had so clearly 
been repeated, over and over, as a message to him 
from outside. The words of the refrain began to run 
221 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


aimlessly through his mind, his eyes upon the box. 
Suddenly he realized that the word cross, in its 
repetitions, its position as the final word of the song, 
must have a definite meaning. Before his eyes he 
saw the cross, so delicately carved as to project 
scarcely an eighth of an inch above the thin and 
fragile ivory surface. Instinctively he began to push 
at it, pressing it this way and that, to discover, if pos- 
sible, any spring or other means whereby it might be 
made to turn or hft up. As he did so, his fingers 
unconsciously pressed upon the large pearl at the top. 
In a moment the upper surface of the cross slid to 
one side, disclosing a tiny shallow cavity beneath it, 
some quarter of an inch in either direction, and no 
deeper than the thickness of a piece of cardboard. 
Within this lay a bit of tissue paper, tightly folded. 

Duvall drew it carefully out and examined it. 
Upon it were written six numbers: 12-16-^-8-20- 
4. There was notliing else upon the paper, but Du- 
vall realized that he held in his hand the key of the 
cipher. 

At once Monsieur de Grissac’s agitation, the serv- 
ant Noel’s death, Hartmann’s persecution of him, 
became clear. Evidently there were documents, some- 
where, of some nature, which this cipher made intelli- 
222 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


gible and which, without it, were proof against all 
attempts to read them. What were these documents ? 
Were they in Hartmann’s hands These questions, 
he knew, could not be answered now. 

Immediately the question rose in his mind: What 
should he do next.? By destroying the tiny shp of 
paper, he could render the snuff box valueless. 
Without the key, no one could use it with success. 
But, the key once destroyed, how could Monsieur de 
Grissac himself read the documents, for the prepar- 
ing of which it had been utilized.? Possibly, if Hart- 
mann had such documents, they were but copies, ob- 
tained through the corruption of some clerk, while 
the originals remained in De Grissac’s possession. 
For these reasons he dared not destroy the cipher, 
at least until all other means of escape had been 
exhausted. Then he realized, in a flash, that if he 
proposed to utilize the return of the snuff box as 
a means of obtaining his freedom, he could not hope 
to do so, if the key was removed. Doubtless Hart- 
mann knew of its existence. In some way he had 
learned, possibly through the murdered man Noel, that 
the box contained such a key, and would examine it, 
and satisfy himself that it had not been removed, be- 
fore he would allow him to leave the place. This 
22S 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


would inevitably result in his being searched, and 
the key, concealed about his person, found. He 
stood in an agony of doubt, wondering which alter- 
native he should take. 

His reflections were rudely disturbed by the sound 
of footsteps in the corridor outside the door. In a 
moment he had replaced the tiny bit of paper in the 
recess beneath the cross, slid the latter back into 
place, and thrust the box beneath a mass of straw 
which lay on top of the packing case against which 
he had been leaning. Then he turned toward the door 
and had barely time to hurl the opera hat into a 
dark corner, when the door opened, and Hartmann 
appeared on the threshold. 


CHAPTER XIX 


I T was not until early in the afternoon that Grace 
was able to accomplish anything toward carry- 
ing out the instructions which young Lablanche had 
given her with respect to the phonograph. On her 
return to Dr. Hartmann’s from her expedition to 
Brussels, she went at once to her room, and locked 
the record which Lablanche had given her in her trunk. 
There was nothing to be done now, until after lunch- 
eon. 

When the meal was over, she asked one of the at- 
tendants, who seemed to be a sort of housekeeper, 
or head nurse, if there would be any objection to her 
taking the phonograph, which was a small and rather 
cheap affair, to her room. She wished to amuse her- 
self, she explained, playing over some of the records 
The woman regarded her curiously for a moment, 
but as there seemed nothing out of the way in the 
request, she assented, with the caution, however, that 
she should not use the instrument except during the 
225 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


day. “ Some of our patients are very nervous,” she 
explained. “ It might annoy them, if they were 
sleeping. Of course, if there are any complaints, 
you will not continue.” 

Grace got one of the nurses to carry the instru- 
ment to her room, and selected several records from 
those which she found in a cabinet on which it stood. 
There were several American records — she took all 
of these, and some others selected at random. 

She did not play The Rosary at once, but made use 
of one of the other records. The horn of the in- 
strument she directed toward the open window. 
When she had finished the first air, and adjusted her 
own record upon the plate of the machine, she felt 
afraid that it might at once be recognized as strange 
and new, but apparently no one paid any attention 
to it. 

She continued her playing as long as she dared 
without running the risk of attracting undue atten- 
tion. When at last she stopped, she felt as though 
she never wanted to hear the strains of The Rosary 
again. 

After dinner, she determined to disregard the sug- 
gestion of the housekeeper to confine her playing to 
the daytime, and moving the machine somewhat nearer 
226 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


the window, played the song over three times in rapid 
succession. She had just begun to rewind the clock- 
work for a fourth time when there was a loud knock- 
ing at the door, and Dr. Hartmann entered hastily 
in response to her rather frightened “ Come in.” 

He was scowling fiercely, and took no pains to 
conceal the fact that he was angry. “ Miss Elli- 
cott,” he growled, “ we cannot possibly permit you 
to play the instrument any longer. It annoys the 
other patients. I am surprised that my housekeeper 
did not inform you so at once. Several have already 
complained. I shall have to take it back to the li- 
brary.” He gathered up the instrument and started 
toward the door, then seemed for a moment to re- 
gret his brusqueness. “ You will pardon me, I know, 
but it is quite out of the question. Good-evening.” 
In a moment he had gone. 

Grace sat down and burst into tears. It was not 
the taking away of the phonograph which distressed 
her — she felt that if anything could be accom- 
plished by its use, it had already been done — but the 
hopelessness of the whole situation. 

Nearly eighteen^ hours had elapsed, since she had 
stolen, half-fainting, from the sight of Richard’s 
white and agonized face. Even Lablanche’s assur- 
227 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


ances that Hartmann would do her husband no serious 
injury, failed to comfort her. The whole affair of 
the phonograph seemed trivial and useless. What 
message could the words of this song give him — what 
in fact could they mean to anyone, except a mes- 
sage of hopeless love ? 

When the hour for going to bed had come, she 
threw herself, without undressing, on the bed, and 
lay sleepless, in the darkened room. The vision of 
Richard, as she had seen him, his face within the 
circle of light, the night before, tortured her inces- 
santly. It seemed somehow so wrong, so cowardly 
of her, to lie here in comfort doing nothing to aid 
him who, in name at least, was united to her forever, 
and in love was more dear to her than her own soul. 
She could not sleep, and presently rose and sat at 
the window, her elbows resting upon the sill, gazing 
hungrily out at the little square brick building where 
she knew Richard lay confined. 

The hours of the night dragged along on leaden 
feet. Once she heard the closing of a door, and the 
sound of footsteps echoing faintly upon the cement 
floor of the lower corridor. Within the laboratory 
all seemed dark. Evidently the doctor was not there. 
Then she heard, through her half-opened door, noises 
228 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


of persons walking in the lower hallway of the main 
building and after that the sharp closing of a door. 
She concluded that Hartmann had gone into his office. 

The woman on duty in the hall sat in her chair, 
reading and yawning. After a time, Grace heard 
the faint ringing of her bell, and the woman, after 
consulting the indicator, began to descend the stairs 
with a surprised look upon her face. It seemed like 
a providential opportunity. She slipped quietl} 
through the doorway and sped as swiftly as she could 
down the hall. 

She reached the door opening into the corridor, 
without hearing or seeing anything to cause her alarm, 
and passed through it unseen. As she closed it be- 
hind her, she fancied she heard someone walking 
quickly along the corridor beneath. The passage- 
way in which she stood was in reality nothing but a 
covered bridge, a few feet wide, built for the sole pur- 
pose of providing a means of passing to the labora- 
tory from the second floor of the main building. Be- 
neath it, a similar passageway connected the ground 
floors of the two buildings. 

She realized that anyone in the corridor beneath 
her could readily hear her footsteps on the wooden 
floor above, and stood, hesitating, just inside the door, 
229 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


waiting until they should have passed. In a few mo- 
ments, the sounds below ceased, and silence again 
reigned. 

With great timidity and caution, she began to walk 
toward the laboratory door. In the center of the cor- 
ridor, and half way down its length, a single electric 
lamp shed a dim light on her path. She realized that 
if, by chance, anyone should be within the darkened 
laboratory, they could readily see her approaching, 
and therefore assumed once more the manner and bear- 
ing of a person walking in their sleep. She had 
passed the light in the middle of the corridor, and 
was nearing the darkened laboratory door, when sud- 
denly she heard a faint click, and almost at once the 
laboratory was brilliantly illuminated. 

By the light which suddenly flashed upon her, she 
saw two figures standing in the open door of the labora- 
tory, watching her intently. One of these figures was 
Dr. Hartmann, the other the tall blond man she had 
seen with him in the laboratory several nights before. 
But it was not the sudden appearance of the two 
watching figures which caused her heart to sink, and 
a cold perspiration to break out upon her forehead. 
The sudden rush of light upon the floor of the pas- 
sageway had shown her something else — something 
230 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


far more strange and terrifying. As her gaze swept 
ahead, she saw that, for a space of some four or 
five feet, in front of the laboratory door, the wooden 
plunking which constituted the floor of the passage- 
way had been removed, and instead of the solid foot- 
way there yawned blackly an impassable opening, 
through which, in another moment, she would plunge 
headlong to the concrete floor of the corridor beneath. 

The sight filled her with dismay. She realized at 
once why Hartmann and his companion stood there 
watching her — why the section of flooring had been 
removed. He had evidently become suspicious of her 
movements, the night before, and had laid this trap 
to test her. If she was in truth walking in her sleep, 
she would, she supposed, walk fearlessly into the yawn- 
ing gap before — if her somnambulism was a sham, 
a trick, she would hesitate, and her fraud be dis- 
covered. 

She did not know what to do, as step by step she 
approached that black and gaping hole. If she kept 
up her pretense, if she had sufficient courage to go 
ahead, of what would it avail Richard or Monsieur 
Lefevre, should she maintain her assumed character 
at the expense of a broken leg, or neck.f^ On the 
other hand, to halt, to hold back, would be to de- 
231 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


stroy at once all chance of her being of any further 
service to her husband, and that, too, at a time when 
he most sorely needed her. 

These considerations flashed through her brain with 
the speed of light itself. She had scarcely taken half 
a dozen steps before she found herself upon the brink 
of the opening, and realized that the next step, if she 
took it, might be her last. 

Then she suddenly collapsed. The effort was too 
great — she sank helplessly upon the floor, her face 
buried in her arms, her whole body shaking with the 
force of her sobbing. 

In an instant Hartmann had sprung across the 
opening and grasped her by the wrist, while his com- 
panion was engaged in rapidly replacing over the gap 
the section of flooring which had been removed. 
Within a few moments the passageway was as it had 
been before, and the doctor was dragging her roughly 
into the laboratory. 

She did not cry out — there was no one from whom 
she could expect aid. She drew herself up and faced 
her captor with dry eyes and a face calm, though 
pale. ‘‘ What do you mean. Dr. Hartmann,” she de- 
manded, steadily, “ by treating me in this way ? ” 

2S2 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


He forced her into a chair. Sit down, young 
woman,” he said, gruffly. ‘‘ I have a few questions 
to ask you.” 

She did so, without protest, summoning to her aid 
all her powers of resistance and will. He should get 
nothing from her, she determined. 

“ Why have you come into my house,” he presently 
asked, glaring at her in anger, “ under pretense of 
desiring medical treatment.? What is it you want 
here.? ” 

She made no reply, gazing at him steadily — fear- 
lessly. 

“ What is this man Duvall to you .? ” he shouted. 
“ Tell me, or it will be the worse for you both.” 

Again she faced him, refusing to answer. Her re- 
sistance made him furious. Your silence will profit 
you nothing,” he went on. ‘‘ You can do no further 
harm here, for I know your purpose. You are work- 
ing with him — you are a detective — a spy, as he 
is. You pretend to be a somnambulist in order to 
carry out your ends. I suspected you long ago. 
Now I know. This man has robbed me of something 
that I am determined to have. What he has done 
with it — where it is concealed, J do not know, but 
233 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


I mean to have it — be sure of that. If you know 
— you had better confess, if you have any regard 
for his welfare.” 

His words, his brutal manner, brought the tears 
to her eyes. She realized that she had but to say 
a few words, to save Richard from she knew not 
what fate, yet equally she knew that she could not 
say them — that he would not want her to say them. 
In her agitation she took a handkerchief from her 
dress and pressed it to her eyes. 

The man Mayer had been regarding her in silence 
throughout the whole scene. Suddenly he stepped 
forward and snatched the handkerchief from her 
hand. His quick eyes had detected a monogram in 
one comer of the bit of cambric, and with an air of 
triumph he held it beneath the light, examining it 
closely. 

Hartmann came to him. “ What is it, Mayer ” 
he asked, eagerly. 

His assistant extended the handkerchief to him. 
Grace realized with a sinking heart that it was one 
of several she had herself embroidered during the 
weeks preceding her marriage. With what pride, she 
reflected, she had worked over the G and D, lovingly 
intertwined in one corner. “ His wife ! ” she heard 
234 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


Hartmann cry, with a harsh laugh. That explains 
everything. That was why he did not leave Brus- 
sels at once — he was waiting for her — he would not 
go without her.” He turned to Grace with a new 
expression on his face. “ So you are his wife, eh? 
Very well. Now we shall see whether or not you will 
tell me what I want to know. Your husband is con- 
fined in the room below us. This ” — he indicated 
the small black box with wires attached — “ is a de- 
vice which I have constructed for producing cer- 
tain light rays — light rays which have a marvelous 
power, both for curing, and producing disease. 
Look! ” He held his powerful hand before her eyes. 

This is what they did to me, before I discovered 
how to control them.” She saw, stretching across 
the back of his hand and wrist, a broad red patch, 
like the scar remaining after a burn. ‘‘ Now come 
here.” He seized her by the wrist and dragged her 
toward the apparatus at the center of the room. 
“ Look — in there.” He indicated a short brass tube 
which rose from the center of the box, resembling the 
eyepiece of a microscope. Look ! ” 

Grace bent over and applied her eye to the brass 
tube, then shrank back with an exclamation of hor- 
“ Richard ! ” she screamed, then turned on Hart'* 
^35 


ror. 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


mann with the fury of a tigress. “ Let him go — 
let him go — I say, or I will — ” She realized her 
helplessness — the futility of her threats, and fell 
into the chair in a paroxysm of sobbing. Through 
the brass tube, and the powerful lens which focused 
the light rays upon the space below, she had seen 
Richard’s face, white and drawn, within a disk of 
blinding light, and apparently so near to her that 
she could have reached out and touched it. In her 
momentary glance, she noted his reddened eyes, the 
tears which coursed from beneath their lids, the agony 
which distorted his countenance. 

“ Now will you tell me what I ask? ” cried Hart- 
mann, triumphantly. 

Still she made no reply. Her heart was breaking, 
her suffering at the knowledge of his suffering made 
her faint and weak, but even now she could not bring 
herself to break the trust which Monsieur Lefevre 
had placed in her. She sat huddled up in the chair, 
shaking from head to foot with sobs. 

Hartmann saw that her resistance was as yet un- 
broken. “ Take her arm, Mayer,” he called out, as 
he seized her by one wrist. “ Come along now. We’ll 
see if a closer view will have any effect.” He 
snatched up a broad leather strap from a shelf along 
S36 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


the wall, then, with Mayer’s assistance, half -led, half 
dragged her to the iron stairway in the comer. In 
a few moments they had paused before the door of 
the room where the detective lay confined. Hartmann 
threw it open and pushed Grace inside, while he and 
Mayer followed, closing the door behind them. 

For a moment Grace was dazzled by the bright- 
ness of the light cone, and the darkness of the re- 
mainder of the room. Then seeing Richard lying 
helpless on the floor before her, she threw herself 
to her knees, put her arms about his neck, and cov- 
ered his face with kisses. “My darling — my poor 
boy ! ” she cried, as she bent over him, her shoulders 
shutting off* from his tortured face the blinding rays 
of the light. “ What have they done to you.^ ” 


237 


CHAPTER XX 


G race had remained upon her knees beside the 
prostrate figure of her husband but a moment, 
when she was torn away by Hartmann and his as- 
sistant, and before she realized their intention, the 
former had slipped about her waist the broad leather 
strap he had brought from the room above, and was 
busy securing it to an iron staple fixed in the wall 
at one side of the room. Then he stood back and 
surveyed the scene with a smile of satisfaction. 

“ You see, Mayer,” he observed, grimly, my pur- 
pose. The wife sees the husband’s suffering. If he 
refuses to speak, she will speak. One or the other will 
tell us what we want to know, of that you may be sure. 
Let us leave them to talk matters over.” He and his 
man at once left the room, and in a few moments 
Grace heard their footsteps upon the floor of the 
laboratory above. 

“ Richard,” she cried, softly, are you suffer- 
ing very much ? ” 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


“ Never mind, dear,” he said, trying vainly to turn 
his head so that he might see her. “ What has hap- 
pened — why have they brought you here ? ” 

She told him her story, brokenly, with many sobs. 
“ I could not help it, Richard,” she moaned. ‘‘ I did 
my best. I could not help their finding out every- 
thing.” 

“ I know it, dear. You have done aU you could. 
Is there any news from outside.? ” 

‘‘ None. They told me to play the phonograph to 
send you a message. Did you hear it.? ” 

“ Yes, I heard, and understood.” 

“Understood.? Then you know something — you 
have some hope .? ” 

“ I do not know. It may be, although I cannot see 
what to do now. I dare not tell you more than that 
— these scoundrels are undoubtedly listening in the 
room above.” 

“ Richard, what is that light.? What is it they 
mean to do to you.? Dr. Hartmann showed me his 
hand — it was all scarred and burned. He said it 
came from that.” She looked toward the glowing 
cone of light with bitter anger. 

“ I do not know — exactly. I am not sure. The 
agony of the thing is very great — it bums into my 
239 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


eyes — into my brain. Hartmann says it will pro- 
duce insanity. I do not know whether this is true 
or not. I begin to feel that perhaps it may be — not 
that the light itself can produce it, but that inability 
to sleep, pain, nervous exhaustion, the constant glare 
and brilliance before my eyes — those things might 
cause a man to go insane, if they were kept up long 
enough.” 

“ But — he — he will not dare to do that.” 

Duvall groaned, striving in vain to turn his head 
to one side. “ He intends to keep me here, until I 
tell him where he can find the snuff box,” he gasped. 

“ Richard! ” Grace fairly screamed out his name. 
“ Then you must tel] — you must! You cannot let 
yourself go mad — not even for Monsieur Lefevre.” 

“ I shall not tell — no matter what comes,” he re- 
plied. 

“ Then I will. I refuse to let you suffer like this. 
I can’t do it, I won’t. If you do not speak, I shall. 
Oh, my God! Don’t you see — I love you — I 
love you so — what do I care about this foolish snuff 
box I want you — you — and I wonH let them 
take you away from me.” 

“ Grace, you shall not tell them.” 

« I will.” 

240 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


I forbid it.” 

‘‘ I cannot help it, Richard. I am ready to dis- 
obey you — if I must, to save your life. Even if you 
turn from me — afterward — I cannot help it. I 
refuse to let them go ahead with this thing.” 

He groaned in desperation. Please — please — 
my girl — listen to me. You must not speak. We 
must think of our duty to those who have trusted us. 
Wait, I implore you. Don’t do this ! ” 

“ I will. I have a duty to you which is greater than 
my duty to them. Dr. Hartmann ! ” she screamed. 
“ I will tell everything — everything.” She collapsed 
against the wall and sobbed as though her heart would 
break. 

In a few moments they heard Hartmann and Mayer 
descending the steps, and the door was thrown open. 

“ Ah, so you have come to your senses, have 
you.^ ” the doctor cried. “Well, what have you to 
say ? ” 

Grace raised her head. “ If I tell you where the 
ivory snuff box is hidden,” she said, “ will you let my 
husband go.? ” 

Yes. Your husband, and yourself, and the rat 
we’ve just caught sneaking around outside. He’s up 
in ^he laboratory now. You can all take yourselves 
241 


THE IVORY SNUFE BOX 


off as quickly as you like, when once the snufF box 
is in my hands. Now speak.” 

First, let my husband up.” 

Hartmann went to the wall, and switching off the 
violet rays, turned on the electric lamp, then nodded 
to Mayer. “ Unbind him,” he said. 

Duvall staggered to liis feet, half -blinded. As he 
did so, Hartmann turned to Grace. ‘‘ Speak ! ” he 
commanded. ‘‘We are wasting time.” 

Before Grace could reply, Duvall turned to her. 

“ I forbid you,” he cried. “ If you do this 
thing, I will never see you again as long as I live. 
You are destroying my honor. I refuse to let you 
do it. Stop ! ” 

The girl hesitated, and Hartmann swore a great 
oath. “ Take her out of here, Mayer,” he cried. 
“ She’ll never speak, as long as her husband is pres- 
ent to dissuade her. Up with her to the laboratory. 
She’ll talk there, quick enough.” 

“ No ! ” Duvall staggered toward her. “ You shall 
not.” His movements were slow and uncertain, due 
to the blinding pain in his eyes, and his stiffened, 
nerve-racked limbs. Hartmann pushed him aside 
angrily. “ Be quiet,” he growled. “ Let the woman 
alone.” 


242 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


Meanwhile Hartmann’s companion had torn away 
the strap which bound Grace to the wall and was 
leading her to the door. Her husband’s efforts to de- 
tain her, weak and uncertain, were easily frustrated 
by Hartmann. In a few moments the door had 
swung shut upon the detective, and she was being 
led up the steps to the room above. 

Here she fell into a chair, and looking about, saw 
huddled on a couch in the far corner of the room a 
little, bent old man, who sat with his white head bowed 
upon his breast, his hands tied behind his back. 
Hartmann went over to him and unfastened his 
bonds. “ You will be happier in a moment, my 
friend,” he laughed. This lady is going to set you 
free.” 

Dufrenne — for it was he — sprang to his feet. 
“ How ? ” he demanded. “ How ? ” As he spoke, he 
crossed the room, his eyes gleaming, and faced Grace 
as she sat in the chair. 

“ Wait and see, old man,” said Hartmann, roughly. 
“ Stand aside, please.” He pushed Dufrenne impa- 
tiently away. “ Now, young woman, where is the 
ivory snuff box.^* ” 

Grace raised her head to reply, when the little old 
Frenchman turned to her, pale with anger. “ No ! ” 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


he shouted, starting forward. “ You shall not do this 
thing. Would you be a traitor to France ! ” 

Grace looked at him and shuddered. His face was 
quivering with emotion — his eyes burned with pierc- 
ing brightness, he seemed about to spring at her, in 
his rage. In a moment Hartmann had turned on him. 
‘‘ Be quiet ! ” he roared. ‘‘ I want no interference 
from you. Mayer! ” He pointed a trembling fore- 
finger at the old Frenchman. ‘‘ Take this fellow 
away.” 

Mayer took Dufrenne by the arm and twisted it 
cruelly. ‘‘No nonsense, now ! ” he growled, thrusting 
the old man toward the couch upon which he had 
been sitting. “ Hold your tongue, or it will be worse 
for you.” Dufrenne resisted him as best he could, 
but his age and feebleness rendered him helpless. He 
sank upon the couch, with tears of anger starting to 
his eyes. 

Grace dared not look at him. The enormity of the 
thing she was about to do appalled her. Yet there 
was Richard, her husband; Richard, whom she loved 
with all her soul, in the room below, facing madness, 
death. The love she felt for him overmastered all 
other considerations. She turned to Hartmann with 
244 


THE IVORY SNUFE BOX 


quivering face. ‘‘ The box is in the room below,” she 
cried, in a voice shaking with emotion. 

Mon Dieu — mon Dieu! she heard Dufrenne 
gasp, as he started from the couch. “ You have 
ruined us all.” 

Hartmann and Mayer gazed at each other incredu- 
lously. ‘‘Impossible!” the former gasped. “Im- 
possible ! ” Then he turned to Grace. “ Girl, are 
you telling me the truth ” 

She nodded, bowing her head upon her hands. She 
could not trust herself to speak. 

“ Where ? Where in that room could it be hid- 
den? Tell me!” he shook her angrily by the arm. 
“ Haven’t we wasted enough time over this thing? ” 

Still she made no reply. Now that she had told 
them, a sudden revulsion swept over her. She hated 
herself for what she had done, hated Hartmann, hated 
Monsieur Lefevre for placing her in this cruel situa- 
tion. 

Hartmann dragged her roughly to her feet. “ If 
the box is in the room below, come with me and find 
it.” 

He hurried her toward the staircase. “ Come along, 
Mayer,” he called over his shoulder. “ Bring that 
^45 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


fellow with you. It won’t be safe to leave him.” As 
she descended the steps, Grace heard the other two 
close behind her. The Frenchman staggered along 
like a man in a daze, offering no resistance. 

When they burst into the room in which Duvall was 
confined, they found the latter standing beneath the 
electric lamp, a look of determination upon his face. 
He regarded them steadily, in spite of his reddened 
and burning eyes. 

Hartmann paid little attention to him. He was 
too greatly interested in the movements of Grace. 
‘‘Now,” he said, “where is it.^ You say the snuff 
box is here — in this room. Find it.’^ 

She hesitated, looking at her husband pitifully. 
What would he think of her.?^ Would he, too, regard 
her as a traitor, a weak and contemptible creature, for- 
ever barred from love and respect, false to her duty, 
her honor.? His face told her nothing. He was re- 
garding her impassively. She remembered now that 
he had said that he would never see her again if she 
disobeyed him. Then she turned away, her mind 
made up. She would save him, come what might. 
He had told her that the box was hidden in an opera 
hat, in one comer of the room. She glanced about 
246 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


quickly, trying to discover its whereabouts in one of 
the dark comers. 

Duvall saw her intention. He took a step forward, 
and addressed Hartmann. You have forced this 
girl, through her love for me, to betray a great tmst. 
I prefer that, if anyone here is to become a traitor, 
it shall be myself.” He thrust his hand into the 
pocket of his coat, and extended a round white ob- 
ject toward the astonished doctor. “Here is the 
snuff box.” 

Dufrenne, for the moment left unguarded by 
Mayer, sprang forward with a fierce cry. “No — no 
— no ! ” he screamed. “ You shall not — you shall 
not.” 

“ Out of my way ! ” exclaimed the doctor, brushing 
the old man aside as easily as though the latter had 
been a child. With eager hands he took the box, and 
going to the light, bent over it. As he saw the pearls, 
the cross, his face lit up with delight. “ This is it, 
Mayer. Just as the valet described it.” He gave 
the ring of pearls a swift turn, then pressed im- 
mediately upon the larger one of the circle and slid 
the top of the ivory cross to one side. Duvall, who 
was watching him with interest, concluded that from 
247 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


some source, probably through Monsieur de Grissac’s 
dead servant, Dr. Hartmann had learned thoroughly 
the secret of the box. 

With a cry of satisfaction the latter drew out from 
the tiny recess the slip of folded paper, glanced at the 
row of numbers written upon it, then passed it over 
to Mayer. The latter nodded his head. Now we 
are all right,” he muttered. “ This is easily worth 
a million francs.” 

‘‘ Money doesn’t measure its value, my friend,” the 
doctor remarked, gravely, as he replaced the slip of 
paper beneath the cross and put the box carefully 
into his pocket. 

During these few moments, Dufrenne had been ob- 
serving the doctor with bulging eyes. Suddenly he 
turned on the detective. “ May the good God curse 
you and your woman for this,” he cried, hoarsely, 
“ until the day of your death. May He turn all men 
against you, and make your name a despised and 
dishonored one forever. You have been false to your 
duty — false to France. You are a traitor, a con- 
temptible dog of a traitor, and you deserve to die.” 
His whole body shook with passion as he poured the 
fury of his wrath upon the man before him. 

Duvall sank weakly against the packing case be- 

S48 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


hind him. SuflPering, lack of sleep and food, the 
burning pain in his eyes and brain, threatened to 
overcome him. “ Let me alone,” he gasped. “ I am 
so tired, so very tired!” He almost fell as he ut- 
tered the words and indeed would have done so had 
Grace not gone quickly up to him and passed her arm 
lovingly about his shoulders. Turning to Dufrenne, 
she regarded him with a look of defiance. “ He is 
not guilty ! ” she cried. ‘‘It is I — I! — who have 
been false. I made him do it — I made him do it. 
Go away, and tell the others what you please. I know 
that my husband has done his best.” She fell to 
soothing him, kissing him upon his hot forehead, his 
burning cheeks. 

Dufrenne looked at Dr. Hartmann, who was regard- 
ing the scene before him with impatience. “ Do I 
understand, monsieur,” he asked, in a ghastly voice, 
“ that I am free to leave this place ” 

“ Yes. Out with you. I could hold you for tres- 
pass upon my grounds, for attempting to break into 
my house, but I don’t want to be bothered with you. 
Go ! ” He went to the door and held it open. 
“ Mayer,” he said, “ show this fellow the road. And 
as for you ” — he turned to Duvall and his wife — 
“ get away from here, and from Brussels, as soon as 
249 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


you like. I advise you not to stay in the town. I 
rather tliink that, through the evidence of Seitz, I can 
make it slightly uncomfortable for you. Tell what 
story you please. I have done you no injury. You 
came here of your own free will — you could have 
escaped and you would not. As for the light — ” 
He laughed harshly. “ An ordinary arc, focused on 
your eyes with a powerful lens. It would probably 
have blinded you, in time, and if it kept you awake 
long enough, you would no doubt have gone mad, but 
so far you are not hurt much. I can swear that it is 
part of my new treatment for a disordered mental 
state. My man here will agree with me. What are 
you going to do about it.? How are you going to ex- 
plain your robbery of Seitz in my office, the deception 
your wife has practised upon me and upon the United 
States Minister.? And above all, now that I have the 
secret I desired, I am quite willing to have a cast made 
of the snuff box and return it to you, but I fancy that 
neither Monsieur de Grissac nor my friend Lefevre 
will want to have the matter made public in the courts. 
You’d better leave here quietly and take the first 
steamer to America. I don’t fancy you’ll find a very 
flattering reception awaiting you in Paris.” He 
turned to the door. “ Come, I’ll have your belongings 
250 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


put on a cab, and be glad to be rid of you.” He 
paused beside the doorway, waiting. 

Grace turned to her husband. “ Come, Richard,” 
she said. Let us go.” 

He made no reply, but followed her blindly. His 
spirits seemed broken, he walked like a man in a heavy 
sleep. 

It was just dawn when, half an hour later, Richard 
Duvall and his wife drove silently through the ghostly 
streets of Brussels toward the railway station. The 
detective did not speak. He sat silent, plunged in a 
deep stupor. Grace, her heart breaking, held one 
of his hands, and with white face, gazed helplessly out 
of the window at the city, just waking to another day. 
To all these people the dawn came with some measure 
of hope, of happiness, but to her, and to her husband, 
now once more beginning their honeymoon, the future 
seemed full of bitterness and despair. She shivered 
in the cold morning air, and the tears she could not re- 
press stole unheeded down her cheeks. 


£51 


CHAPTER XXI 

I T was not until they had reached the railway sta- 
tion that Richard Duvall roused himself from the 
stupor in which he had sat ever since he and his wife 
had driven away from Dr. Hartmann’s. When their 
baggage had been deposited on the platform, under 
the care of a solicitous porter, and the cabman had 
been paid and gone his way, Grace asked her husband 
concerning their destination. ‘‘ Shall we go to Ant- 
werp? ” she said, listlessly. “We can get a steamer 
there, or cross to England.” She awaited his reply 
without interest. It seemed to matter very little 
where they went, now. 

Duvall turned to the waiting porter. “ When is the 
next train for Paris? ” he asked. The man answered 
at once, glancing at the clock in the waiting-room. 
“ In forty minutes, monsieur. You will have time for 
rolls and coffee.” 

“ Paris ! ” exclaimed Grace, in much surprise. 
“ Wliy should we go to Paris, dear? I don’t care 
252 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


about the things I left there. We can telegraph for 
them. Oh, Richard, I can’t go back and face Mon- 
sieur Lefevre now.” She looked eagerly at his face, 
but its expression told her nothing. “ I must make 
my report to the Prefect,” he answered. “ It is my 
duty.” 

Over their simple breakfast he was uncommunica- 
tive. “ Don’t worry, dear,” he said, once, when she 
had plied him with questions, attempted to change his 
decision by arguments. “ I cannot afford to run 
away. Monsieur Lefevre has given me a duty to per- 
form, and I must at least tell my story. After that, 
we can go to America, but not now.” 

She could get no more out of him, and with tears in 
her eyes, followed him to the compartment in the 
Paris train which the porter had secured for them. 
There were few people traveling at this early hour. 
They had the compartment to themselves. Duvall 
rolled himself in his overcoat and lay down upon one 
of the seats. ‘‘ I am very tired, dear,” he told her. 
“ I have suffered a frightful strain. My eyes hurt so 
tliat I can scarcely see. I am sick for want of sleep. 
There is a hard task before me, when I get to Paris. 
I must have a little rest.” He turned his face away 
from the light, and lay quiet, breathing heavily. 

25S 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


Grace sat huddled up in a corner of the opposite 
seat, watching him, a great tenderness in her eyes. 
After all, she thought, he was her husband, the man 
she loved, and if he had appeared to act the part of a 
traitor to his cause, it was only because she, by her 
weakness, her love for him, had forced him to do so. 
At the last moment he had thought of her — his one 
thought had been to save her from disgrace and dis- 
honor. He had assumed the blame, for he had given 
up the snuff box of his own free will. Had he al- 
lowed her to do so, he could have preserved his own 
name, his o^vn honor, clear of all accusation or stain. 
It made her love him doubly, that he had thus stepped 
into the breach at the last moment and taken upon 
himself the guilt which she knew belonged in reality 
upon her. 

As she sat there, conscious only of the flying trees 
outside the car windows, the clicking of the wheels 
upon the rails, and the low breathing of her hus- 
band on the seat before her, her mind went forward 
into the future, and the prospect made her shudder. 
In Paris she knew what manner of welcome awaited 
them. Monsieur Lefevre would turn from them both, 
as he would not turn from the vilest criminal. 

Their names would be held up to scorn, in official 

254 < 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


circles at least. If the public ever came to know of 
the affair, she knew they would have reason to fear 
for their very safety. 

As to the results of her act, as to what the secret 
of the lost snuff box was, that made Hartmann de- 
clare its value to be priceless, she could not even guess. 
That it must have some diplomatic, some international 
significance, she fully believed, else why should Mon- 
sieur Lefevre have declared that the honor of France 
was involved And if so — if the possession of the 
secret by Hartmann, and thus by the foreign country, 
whichever one it might be, of which he was probably 
an agent, did result in complications of a vast and 
terrible nature, involving possibly war, or loss of na- 
tional honor and prestige, how could either she or her 
husband ever again hope to hold up their heads, to 
find any joy and happiness in life? 

Of course, there was America, and home, but even 
there the secret would in time become known, and 
Richard would find that those who had been his friends 
in high places would turn, from him, trusting in his 
honor, his integrity, no longer. Even, she realized, if 
the affair did not become known, at home, it would 
stand forever between them, a black and grinning 
shadow, destroying confidence, happiness, even love 
255 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


itself. She had failed him — failed her husband — 
done what he had forbidden her to do, and he had 
sworn to leave her, to turn from her forever, if she 
disobeyed him. Would he do this, she wondered? Or 
would he understand that what she had done, had been 
for his sake, for the sake of her love for him? 

Presently she realized that the train was slackening 
its speed, and the houses which began to appear in in- 
creasing numbers outside the car windows told her 
that they were approaching a station. She looked at 
her railway folder and then consulted her watch. It 
was Manbenge, the point at which they left Belgium 
and entered France. The train drew noisily into the 
station, and was at once surrounded by the usual 
crowd of passengers, porters, railway and customs of- 
ficials, and the like. Grace watched them idly, indif- 
ferently. Her only concern was that they should not 
wake her husband with their noisy chatter. 

Presently she saw a small, white-haired figure ap 
proaching the compartment door. At first she paid no 
attention to the man, supposing him to be a belated 
passenger. Then she was struck with a sudden 
familiarity in his appearance. She started back in 
alarm as she saw that it was Dufrenne, and that he 
was making straight for the compartment in which 
S56 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


she sat, his face stern and angry. Behind him she 
observed two gendarmes, walking with their charac- 
teristic jerky stride. 

Dufrenne had been a mystery to her. Until their 
meeting in Dr. Hartmann’s laboratory that morning, 
she had never seen him. She had felt, from his 
words, that he, too, was of Monsieur Lefevre’s staff, 
a member of the secret police, but that he was no 
friend of Richard’s or of hers, she very well knew. 
She drew back further into the dim comer of the com- 
partment, hoping that he would not recognize her. 

Her hopes, however, were in vain. Dufrenne threw 
upon the door of the carriage, which had previously 
been unlocked by the guard, and followed by his men, 
entered the compartment. “ Here is the fellow,” he 
cried, angrily, pointing to Duvall. Arrest him.” 

Grace sprang forward, and stood between the men 
and her husband, who slept on, unconscious of the 
noise about him. ‘‘No — no ! ” she cried, in a tense 
whisper. “ Let him alone. You shall not touch him.” 
In her desperation she drew from the bosom of her 
dress a small revolver which she had carried ever since 
she left Paris. “ Keep away, I tell you. You shall 
not arrest my husband.” 

Dufrenne confronted her with an angry gesture. 

257 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


“You fool!” he cried. “Do you dare to disobey 
this.? ” He held before her eyes a silver ring, inlaid 
with gold, similar to the one she wore about her own 
neck. “ I am a member of the secret police, as you 
know. This man is a traitor to his duty, and for that 
he shall be punished. Arrest him,” he said again to 
his men. 

Grace recoiled, and dropped the revolver she held 
to the floor. In all her dread of the future, this was 
something upon which she had not counted. Her 
husband arrested — possibly shot, or condemned to 
spend years in some frightful military prison. She 
thought of Devil’s Island, where Dreyfus had been 
confined, and the horror of the situation overcame her. 
Unable to resist longer, she sank upon the seat and 
burst into tears. 

The two gendarmes awakened Duvall roughly, and 
after informing him that he was a prisoner, sat 
grimly down on either side of him. Dufrenne took 
the seat beside Grace. The train had again begun to 
move — she realized that they were once more flying 
toward Paris. 

At first Duvall, in his stupor of sleep, did not real- 
ize what had happened, but in a few moments he had 
grasped the situation. He did not seem greatly con- 
S58 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


cerned at his arrest, and Grace, her first paroxysm 
of weeping having passed, looked at him in surprise. 
How brave he is ! she thought. Once she caught his 
eyes, but he made no sign. Apparently he was re- 
signed to his fate. 

Dufrenne turned to her presently. You, ma- 
dame, are also under arrest,” he remarked coldly. 

“ You ha.re no right to do this thing,” she ex- 
claimed. We have done the best we could.” 

‘‘No!”' cried the little old Frenchman, his bent 
shoulders straightening, his eyes flashing until he be- 
came a stern and vengeful figure. “ No! You have 
not donc' the best you could. Brave men — and brave 
women, die at their posts of duty. You are cowards, 
both of you. Had I been in your place, do you think 
I would have given in — do you think I would have 
sold the honor of my country ! Mon Dieu! It is in- 
credible! I am a Frenchman, madame, and I have 
fought for France. I value my life as nothing, 
where her welfare is concerned. I would have died a 
thousand times, died as Frenchmen die, with ‘ Vive La 
France,'' on my lips, before I would have uttered so 
much as a single word.” 

She made no reply to this. In his anger, the fragile 
old man seemed inspired with the very spirit of pa- 
259 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


triotism, his withered cheeks took on new color, his 
sunken eyes a new brightness. She felt ashamed — 
not for Richard, for he had spoken only when she had 
forced him to do so, but for herself. The guilt was 
hers. She was glad that she, too, was arrested, that 
she might have a chance to go before Monsieur Le- 
fevre and take upon her shoulders the dishonor which 
she knew belonged there. Silent, she shrank back 
into her comer, not daring to look up. 

“ Monsieur Dufrenne,” she heard Richard saying, 
quietly, ‘‘ be so good as to remember that it was I, 
not my wife, who gave the snuff box to Hartmann. 
You have seen fit to place me under arrest. Very well, 
I will tell my story to Monsieur Lefevre and abide by 
his decision. But meanwhile, I beg that you will treat 
my wife with courtesy and respect. She has had a 
very trying and terrible experience and I do not won- 
der that she is unnerved. You may not know it, 
monsieur, but we were married but five days ago, and 
this — ” he glanced about the compartment with a sad 
smile — this, monsieur, is our honeymoon.’’ 

The Frenchman sank back, all his anger swept 
away. “ It is pitiful, monsieur, pitiful,” he said, 
quietly. “ Yet in what I now do, I am but doing my 
duty.” He turned to Grace. “ Madame, I feel for 
260 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 

you in your suffering. You acted through love. Of 
that I am sure. But there is a greater love than that 
of woman for man — the love of country. That is 
the only love I understand.” He turned away and sat 
for a long while gazing out of the window. 

In what seemed to Grace a very short time, they 
reached Paris, and here she and Richard were con- 
ducted to a taxicab and soo-n found themselves at the 
Prefecture. 

Dufrenne left them, to announce his arrival to Mon- 
sieur Lefevre, and she and her husband sat in an 
anteroom, closely guarded, waiting until the time 
should arrive for them to be summoned before the Pre- 
fect. 

The detective was still silent and preoccupied. He 
said little, but from the caressing way in which he 
placed his hand upon hers, bidding her cheer up, 
Grace knew that his love for her, at least, was left to 
her. “ Oh, Richard,” she said, softly, turning her 
face to his, ‘‘ I am so sorry, so sorry ! But I could 
not let you suffer, dear, for I love you — I love you.” 


CHAPTER XXII 


'f’ T was characteristic of Monsieur Etienne Lefevre, 
JL Prefect of Police of Paris, that when he had once 
placed a case in the hands of one of his men, he rarely 
ever interfered in any way with the latter’s conduct 
of it. Reports of progress he did not desire, nor en- 
courage. Success was the only report that he asked, 
and by thus throwing his subordinates upon their 
own responsibility, he obtained from them far better 
results than would have been the case had he kept 
in constant touch with their movements. 

Hence when he dispatched Richard Duvall, and 
Monsieur Dufrenne, the little curio dealer of the Rue 
de Richelieu, to London, and the former’s wife and 
later on Lablanche to Brussels, he felt that he had done 
all that it was possible to do, to secure the recovery of 
Monsieur de Grissac’s stolen snuff box. 

He did not, it is true, dismiss the matter from his 
mind — it was, indeed, of too grave and sinister a 
character to be treated thus lightly, but he had the 
262 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


utmost confidence in Euvall, and believed that the lat- 
ter would without doubt succeed in his quest. 

Since Duvall’s departure, he had waited anxiously 
for the detective’s appearance. He did not expect to 
hear from him, but felt convinced that within the next 
day or two he would walk into his oflSce with the miss- 
ing snuff box in his pocket. 

It was with some dismay, therefore, that he re- 
ceived, on the fourth day, a sudden visit from Du- 
frenne. The latter had been released, the day be- 
fore, by the Brussels police, after a most uncomfort- 
able night in a cell, an experience for which he knew 
he had Hartmann to thank, and in desperation had de- 
cided to place the condition of affairs before his chief. 

The latter had heard him in silence, and then fol- 
lowed a long conference, with the result that Du- 
frenne returned to Brussels, bearing the mysterious 
message subsequently given to Grace by Lablanche, 
to play The Rosary upon the phonograph. 

Since then, the Prefect had been in a state of pro- 
found agitation, although he carefully concealed the 
fact from his subordinates. The gravity of the is- 
sues at stake tortured him ceaselessly, and to add to 
his discomfort. Monsieur de Grissac arrived from 
London, determined to ascertain what progress, if any, 
263 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


had been made toward the recovery of his lost prop- 
erty. 

He was bitterly disappointed to find that Lefevre 
was unable to give him the slightest encouragement. 
The box had not, he believed, passed into the hands 
of their enemies, but beyond that he could say noth- 
ing. 

It was on the day of the Ambassador’s arrival that 
Dufrenne appeared at the Prefecture a second time, 
his face pale and haggard, his eyes bloodshot and 
sunken from loss of sleep, his whole manner indicating 
that he had lately passed through some terrible ex- 
perience. De Grissac was closeted with the Prefect at 
the time, but the man’s appearance, his urgent request 
that he see Monsieur Lefevre at once, gained him an 
immediate audience. 

The Prefect and the Ambassador stood awaiting his 
entrance, their faces tense with anxiety. The expres- 
sion upon the old man’s countenance confirmed their 
worst fears. He staggered into the room, grasping 
the back of a chair to support himself. “ He has 
given it up — the scoundrel — the traitor; he has 
given it up, to save himself and his wife.” 

The Ambassador turned away with a groan of de- 
spair. Lefevre stepped up to Dufrenne. ‘‘ You 
^64 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


mean to tell me,” he cried, ‘‘that Richard Duvall has 
proven false to his duty ? I cannot believe it.” 

Dufrenne nodded. “ He gave it to Hartmann last 
night. I saw him do it. Flartmann had promised to 
let him go free. They had been torturing him, in 
some way, I do not know how. It was the woman 
who weakened first. The man — Duvall — gave up 
the box to save her from doing so.” 

“ Then she knew where it was ? ” 

“ Yes.” 

The Prefect went over to the window and looked 
out over the Seine. His emotions almost overcame 
him. The loss of the box — Duvall’s faithlessness — 
his own failure, all plunged him into the deepest de- 
spair. “ Mon Dieu! ” he muttered to himself. 
“ Duvall — it is incredible ! ” 

Suddenly he turned. The Ambassador had begun 
to question Dufrenne. “ What did this Dr. Hart- 
mann do, when the box was given to him ? ” he asked 
in a voice trembling with excitement. 

“ He pressed the large pearl, pushed aside the 
cross, and removed the paper that was hidden beneath 
it. He read the paper. It contained nothing but a 
row of numbers. I saw it as he held it beneath the 
light.” 


265 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


De Grissac became as white as chalk, and turning 
to Lefevre, cried out, in a broken voice, “ It is all 
over. Nothing can be done now. It is too late. 
Mon Dleu! What will become of France.^ ” 

“Where is Duvall?” cried the Prefect, suddenly. 
“ I must see him. He is not the man to do such a 
thing as this. I must talk to him. Do not teU me 
that he has run away.” 

“ No, monsieur. He is outside, he and his wife. I 
have placed them both under arrest.” 

“ Were they attempting to escape? ” 

“ No, monsieur. They were coming to Paris.” 

“ At least,” the Prefect remarked, mournfully, “ he 
is not cowardly enough for that. Bring him here — 
bring them both here at once. I must question them.” 

Dufrenne turned to the door. “ In a moment, mon- 
sieur, they will be before you.” 

“ What can it avail now? ” said De Grissac, sadly. 

“We shall see. I never condemn a man without 
a hearing.” As he spoke, Duvall and Grace came 
into the room. 

The Prefect looked at his young assistant with an 
expression both grave and sad. He had always been 
very fond of Duvall — he was fond of him still. The 
whole matter had hurt him very deeply. 

^66 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


Monsieur Duvall,” he said, without further pre- 
liminaries, “ Monsieur Dufrenne tells me that you, 
after recovering Monsieur de Grissac’s snuff box from 
Dr. Hartmann, deliberately returned it to him last 
night, in order to secure your liberty and that of your 
wife. Is this true.?’ ” 

‘‘ Yes.” Duvall’s voice was calm, even, emotion- 
less. “ It is true.” 

Lefevre recoiled as though he had received a blow. 
“ Can you dare to* come before me, and tell me such 
a thing as that.?’ ” 

It was my fault. Monsieur Lefevre,” cried Grace, 
going up to him. “ Richard begged me not to tell 
— commanded me not to tell, but they were torturing 
him — they were driving him mad. Oh, I could not 
stand it — I could not ! ” 

‘‘ You should have considered your duty, madame, 
not your husband,” remarked the Prefect, coldly, 
then turned to Duvall. 

“ Young man,” he said, you have done a ter- 
rible thing — perhaps even now, you do not realize 
how terrible a thing. I regret that I did not inform 
you at the time I placed the case in your hands, but 
the matter is one which, at all costs, I wished to have 
remain a secret. Now it makes little difference. 

267 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


Monsieur de Grissac has for many months been carry- 
ing on with the Foreign Office a correspondence re- 
garding the relations of France and England in the 
matter of Morocco. Many details of action have 
been settled which, in the event of certain eventuali- 
ties, would constitute the joint policy of the two 
nations. I need hardly say that these details and 
policies are of such a nature as to cause, if known, 
an immediate declaration of war by the third nation 
involved. This correspondence. Monsieur de Grissac, 
unwilling to trust to the ordinary cipher in use for 
such purposes, carried on in a code of his own; one 
which he regarded as absolutely proof against all at- 
tempts at solution. That desperate attempts to ob- 
tain copies of the correspondence would be made he 
well knew, and in spite of all precautions, our enemies, 
by bribing a subordinate, did, some time ago, manage 
to secure copies of many of the most important letters 
and documents. Their attempts at reading them, 
however, were fruitless. Without the cipher, and its 
key, they could do nothing. 

“ How they ultimately learned that the key and 
the cipher were contained in the ivory snuff box, 
we do not know. Perhaps through Noel, the Am- 
268 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


bassador’s servant, although Monsieur de Grissac is 
positive that he never, under any circumstances, made 
use of the cipher in the presence of a third person. 
That they did learn the whereabouts of the cipher, 
however, we now realize only too well. When I told 
you that in the missing snuff box lay not only my 
honor, but the honor of France, I indulged in no 
extravagant statements. It is the solemn truth. 
Even now, by means of the snuff box and key which 
you have delivered to them, our enemies have no doubt 
read the stolen documents, and are preparing to strike 
while we are as yet unprepared.” He strode up and 
down the room in a state of extreme excitement. “ As 
a last desperate chance, I attempted to send you a 
message by means of the phonograph record. I 
hoped you might, in this way, learn the secret of 
the box, and by destroying the key, render it use- 
less. If you hesitated to do this, fearing that, should 
Hartmann discover the key was missing he would re- 
fuse to liberate you, you are worse than a traitor. 
You are a contemptible coward. Let me tell you. 
Monsieur Duvall, if I had a son, I should rather have 
struck him dead at my feet, than have had him fail 
me in a crisis like this.” 


269 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


Grace began to weep, hysterically. “ It was all ray 
fault,” she began. “ I told them the box was hidden 
In the room below, against my husband’s wishes.” 

Where were you, then, that you say ‘ in the room 
below ’ ” asked Lefevre suddenly. 

“ In the laboratory, on the second floor. My hus- 
band was confined In the basement. I said I would 
tell — for they were killing him. He cried out to 
me — forbidding me to do so. Then they took me 
away to the room above.” 

“ And left your husband alone, with the snuff box 
in his possession ” demanded the Prefect, stenily. 

“ Yes.” 

For how long.f’ ” 

“ About — about ten minutes,” she replied, won- 
dering at his question. 

“ And you,” exclaimed the Prefect, in a voice of 
fury, turning on Duvall, were left alone in this room, 
with the snuff box in your possession, for ten min- 
utes, at the end of which time you calmly turned it 
over to this fellow Hartmann. 3fon Dieu! Why did 
you not destroy it — crush it under your heel — 
anything, to prevent our enemies from obtaining pos- 
session of it.^ ” He looked at Duvall, his face work- 
270 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


ing convulsively. “You — you are a — sacre hleu! 
— I cannot tell you what I think of you.’^ 

“ Monsieur de Grissac,” asked Duvall, his face 
white, “ had I destroyed the box, or even only the 
key, could you have read these documents yourself? ” 
The Ambassador gazed at him, puzzled for a mo- 
ment. “ Certainly not, monsieur,” he replied. “ I 
could no more have solved the cipher than they 
could. It was for that reason that I was forced to 
carry the key about with me. But it would have been 
infinitely better, had the documents never again been 
read, than to have them read by our enemies.” 

Without making any reply, Duvall placed his hand 
in his pocket and drew out, between his thumb and 
forefinger, a tiny white pellet, no larger than the head 
of a match. “ You are no doubt acquainted, Mon- 
sieur de Grissac,” he said, coolly, “ with your own 
handwriting.” 

“My handwriting! Naturally. What of it?” 
He went toward the detective, an eager look in his 
face. Lefevre, Dufrenne, and Grace also crowded 
about, their expressions showing the interest which Du- 
vall’s questions had aroused. 

The detective began to unroll the little white pel- 

ni 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


let with the utmost deliberation. It presently be- 
came a tiny strip of tissue paper, not over two and 
a half inches long, upon which was written a series 
of numbers. Is that, then, your handwriting, mon- 
sieur? ” he inquired carelessly, as he placed the strip 
of paper in De Grissac’s trembling hand. 

“ Mon Dieu! The key ! ” fairly shouted the Am- 
bassador, as his eyes fell upon the bit of paper. 
“ Monsieur Duvall, what does this mean? ” 

“ It means, monsieur,” replied the detective, coolly, 
“ that while I was left alone in the room downstairs, 
I tore off the lower half of your key, which luckily, 
was a sufficient width to enable me to do so, and with 
a fountain pen I had in my pocket, wrote upon this 
second slip of paper a series of numbers taken at 
random. This series I placed in the secret recess in 
the box. I do not think it will prove of much use to 
our friends in Brussels.” 

“Duvall!” cried Lefevre, rushing forward with 
outstretched hands. “Forgive me — forgive me!” 
He was not quick enough, however, to forestall Grace, 
who with one cry of happiness had flung herself into 
her husband’s arms. “ Richard ! ” she cried, and then 
sank sobbing but happy upon his breast. 

Monsieur Lefevre seized his assistant by the arm 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


and began to shake his hand in a way which almost 
threatened to dislocate the young man’s shoulder. 
‘‘ My boy,” he cried, laughing and crying at the same 
time, “forgive me — forgive me. I was hasty. I 
should have let you speak, first. God be praised, 
everything is well, De Grissac — think of it — they 
will puzzle their brains over that cipher for weeks 
and weeks and they will discover nothing — nothing ! 
Is it not splendid ! ” He grasped the Ambassador’s 
hand and embraced him with ardor. “ Magnificent ! 
Superb ! ” 

The Ambassador was no less overjoyed. “ Young 
man,” he said, “ we owe you the deepest apologies. 
No one could have done better. I thank you from 
the bottom of my heart.” Dufrenne also offered his 
congratulations. “ My friend,” he said, “ I have 
done you a great injustice. I salute you, not only as 
a brave man, but as a very shrewd one. As for me, 
I fear I am only an old fool.” 

Duvall patted the old man on the shoulder and 
smiled. “ A patriot, monsieur, and for that I honor 
you. I was luckily able to turn the tables on these 
fellows. But one thing you, and all of you, gentle- 
men, should know. Had I not been able to substitute 
a false key for the real one, the latter would never 
27S 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


have passed into Hartmann’s hands, if I had died for 
it.” 

“ I know it, my friend. I was a fool, a dolt, even 
for one moment to doubt it. I ask your pardon, and 
that of madame, your wife,” cried Lefevre, seizing 
Duvall’s hands in his. Grace looked proudly at her 
husband, her knowledge of her own weakness for- 
gotten in the triumph that he had won. 

And now, monsieur,” said Duvall, with a look of 
happiness in his face as he caught his wife’s glance, 
‘‘ with your permission, Mrs. Duvall and myself will 
begin once more our interrupted honeymoon.” 

The Prefect put his arm about the detective’s shoul- 
der, and gave him an affectionate hug. “ My poor 
children,” he cried, smiling at Grace. “ In my excite- 
ment, my happiness, I had completely forgotten that 
you are only just married. And such a lioneymoon 
as you have had. It is indeed shameful, and the 
fault is mine — mine alone. But I shall make 
amends, my children. You have rendered both me, 
and France, a great service, and I do not forget it. 
I insist that to-night you shall dine with me. You, 
De Grissac,” he exclaimed, turning to the Ambassador, 
will, I know, be one of the party. And it is not 
alone for the purpose of dining that I ask you, your 
^74 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


service to France shall be acknowledged in a more 
substantial way. Monsieur de Grissac and myself 
will have the honor to present to you, Monsieur Du- 
's all, and to your charming bride, some tokens of our 
gratitude and esteem. After that — go — enjoy 
your happiness. You have earned it.” He glanced 
at his watch. “ Madame, you are fatigued. You 
need rest — sleep. I insist that you permit me to 
send you to my house, where Madame Lefevre will 
have the honor to receive you, and make you com- 
fortable. You, Duvall, can in the meantime make 
your arrangements for leaving Paris to-night, and 
also secure your baggage from the pension in the Rue 
Lubeck where it awaits you. I myself will accompany 
you, and render you any assistance in my power; we 
will then rejoin your wife at my house, where Mon- 
sieur de Grissac will meet us in time for dinner. What 
do you say ? ” 

Grace clung to her husband’s arm. ‘‘ I’m afraid to 
leave him, even for a minute,” she said. 

Duvall pressed her hand, and noted her swollen 
eyes, her white and drawn cheeks. ‘‘ You have had 
a terrible night, dear,” he said, kissing her, “ and 
you must have a few hours’ rest. Go to Monsieur 
Lefevre’s house, and lie down and sleep for a little 
275 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


while. You are so nervous you can scarcely stand. 
I will not be long.” 

She gave his arm a little squeeze, then turned to 
the Prefect. ‘‘ I thank you, monsieur, and since my 
husband thinks it best, I will gladly go to your house 
at once. Good-by, Richard.” She accompanied 
Monsieur Lefevre to the door. 

Two hours later, Duvall, having made all arrange- 
ments for leaving Paris for London that night, de- 
scended from the Prefect’s automobile at tlie latter’s 
house in the Rue de Courcelles, Within an hour 
they had been joined by Monsieur de Grissac and 
were all seated about Monsieur Lefevre’s hospitable 
board. Everyone was in jubilant spirits, and in the 
happiness of the moment all the suffering of the past 
week was forgotten. De Grissac presented to the 
bride a magnificent diamond crescent, and to Duvall 
a gold cigarette-case of exquisite design and work- 
manship, while Monsieur Lefevre, not to be outdone, 
placed in Grace’s hand a rare lace shawl which, he 
assured her, had been worn by a Marquise under the 
Empire. To Duvall he gave a seal ring, with the 
arms of France engraved upon a setting of jade. 
“ It belonged to my father,” he said, simply. “ With 
276 


THE IVORY SNUFF BOX 


me it is a talisman ; you will never ask any favor from 
me in vain.” 

AVhen M. Lefevre came at last to say good-by to 
Duvall and his wife, there were tears of real sorrow 
in his eyes. He had no children of his own, and the 
happiness of his two young friends had been his hap- 
piness as well. The thought that he might never see 
them again left him with a great sense of loneliness. 

“ Good-by, my dear boy,” he said, grasping Du- 
vall’s hand in both of his, as he stood beside the door 
of the automobile which was to take the happy pair 
to the railway station. When you settle down upon 
that little farm in your own country, and raise the 
chickens, and the pigs, and, may I also venture to 
hope ” — he smiled meaningly at Grace — “ the chil- 
dren, do not forget your old friend Lefevre.” 

Duvall pressed his hand, while Grace hid her blushes 
in the darkness of the cab. 

“ I shall never forget, monsieur, that to you I owe 
the possession of the sweetest and best wife in the 
world. We shall meet again, I promise you.” 

“ Good ! I shall hold you to the promise, mon ami. 
And if you do not keep it ” — he pointed his finger im- 
pressively at the pair in the cab — ‘‘ I shall send for 

m 


THE IVORY SNUEF BOX 


you to assist me in the next difficult case which puzzles 
me, and voila! The thing is done. You would not 
dare to fail me, should I call upon you for assistance.” 

He took Grace’s hand and kissed it with old time 
courtliness, then slapped Duvall upon the shoulder. 

“ Go now, my children. If you stay longer I shall 
be unable to restrain my tears.” 

As the automobile turned the corner below, its occu- 
pants saw the old gentleman still standing on the side- 
walk, gazing after them and waving his handkerchief 
in farewell. 

“ Dear old Lefevre,” said Duvall, as he drew GracQ 
to him and kissed her. 


278 


TITLES SELECTED FROM 

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PHE SILENT CALL. By Edwin Milton Royle. Illustrated 
with scenes from the play. 

The hero of this story is the Squaw Man’s son. He has 
been taken to England, but spurns conventional life for the sake 
of the untamed West and a girl’s pretty face. 

JOHN MARCH, SOUTHERNER. By George W. Cable. 

A story of the pretty women and spirited men of the South. 
As fragrant in sentiment as a sprig of magnolia, and as full of 
mystery and racial troubles as any romance of “after the war” 
days. 

MR. JUSTICE RAFFLES. By E. W. Hornung. 

This engaging rascal is found helping a young cricket player 
out of the toils of a money shark. Novel in plot, thrilling and 
amusing. 

FORTY MINUTES LATE . By F. Hopkinson Smith. Illustrated 
by S. M. Chase. 

Delightfully human stories of every day happenings; of a 
lecturer’s laughable experience because he’s late, a young woman’s 
excursion into the stock market, etc. 

OLD LADY NUMBER 31 . By Louise Forsslund. 

A heart-warming story ot American rural life, telling of the 
adventures of an old couple in an old folk’s home, their sunny, 
philosophical acceptance of misfortune and ultimate prosperity. 

THE HUSBAND’S STORY . By David Graham Phillips. 

A story that has given all Europe as well as all America much 
food for thought. A young couple begin life in humble circum- 
stances and rise in worldly matters until the husband iff enormously 
rich— the wife in the most aristocratic European society— but at the 
price of their happiness. 

the t rail OF NINETY- EIGHT . By Robert W. Service. 
Illustrated by Maynard Dixon. 

One of the best stories of “Vagabondia” ever written, and 

one of the most accurate and picturesque descriptions of the stam- 
pede of gold seekers to the Yukon. The love story embedded in 
the narrative is strikingly original. 

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GROSSET & DUNLAP’S LIST 


May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap’s list. 


THE SECOND WIFE. By Thompson Buchanan. Illustrated 
by W. W. Fawcett. Harrison Fisher wrapper printed in four 
colors and gold. 

An intensely interesting story of a marital complication ir* 
a wealthy New York family involving the happiness of a 
beautiful young girl. 

TESS OF THE STORM COUNTRY. By Grace MUler White. 
Illustrated by Howard Chandler Christy. 

An amazingly vivid picture of low class life in a New 
York college town, wnth a heroine beautiful and noble, who makes 
a great sacrifice for love. 

FROM THE VALLEY OF THE MISSING. By Grace Miller 
White. 

Frontispiece and wrapper in colors by Penrhyn Stanlaw'S. 
Another story of “the storm country.” Two beautiful chil- 
dren are kidnapped from a wealthy home and appear many years 
after showing the effects of a deep, malicious scheme oehind 
their disappearance. 

THE LIGHTED MATCH. By Charles NevUle Buck. Ulus- 
trated by R. F. Schabelitz. 

A lovely princess travels incognito through the States and 
falls in love with an American man. There are ties that bind her 
to someone in her own home, and the great plot revolves round 
ler efforts to work her way out. 

MAUD BAXTER. By C. C. Hotchkiss. Illustrated by WiB 
Grefe. 

A romance both daring and delightful, involving an Amer- 
ican girl and a young man who had been impressed into English 
service during the Revolution. 

THE HIGHWAYMAN. By Guy Rawlence. Illustrated bv 
Will Grefe. ' 

A French beauty of n^terious antecedents wins the love 
lof an Englishman of title. Developments of a startling character 
^and a clever untangling of affairs hold the reader’s interest. 

THE PURPLE STOCKINGS. By Edward Salisbury Field 
IHustrated in colors; marginal illustrations. 

A young New York business man, his pretty sweetheart, 
his sentimental stenographer, and his fashionable sister are all 
mixed up in a misunderstanding that surpasses anything in tlic- 
way of comedy in years. A story with a laugh on every page. 


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TITLES SELECTED FROM 

GROSSET & DUNLAP’S LIST 


May be had wherever bocks are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap’s list 


T HE SIEGE OF THE SEVEN SUITORS . By Meredith Nich 
olsoir. Illustrated by C. Coles Phillips and Reginald Birch. 
Seven suitors vie with each other for the love of a beautifu 
jirl, and she subjects them to a test that is fnli of mystery, magic 
and sheer amusement. 

THE MAGNET. By Henry C. Rowland. Illustrated by Clarence 
F. Underwood. 

The story of a remarkable courtship involving three pretty 
girls on a yacht, a poet-lover in pursuit, and a mix-up in the names 
of the girls. 

THE TURN OF THE ROAD. By Eugenia Brooks Frothingham, 
A beautiful young opera singer chooses professional success 
instead of love, but comes to a place in life where the call of the 
heart is stronger than worldly success. 

SCOTTIE AND HIS LADY. By Margaret Morse. Illustrated 
by Harold M. Brett. 

A young girl whose affections have been blighted is presented 
with a Scotch Collie to divert her mind, and the roving adventures 
of her pet lead the young mistress into another romance. 

SHEI LA VEDDER . By Amelia E. Barr. Frontispiece by Harri- 
”^n P'isher. 

A very beautiful romance of the Shetland Islands, with a 
handsome, strong willed hero and a lovely girl of Gaelic blood as 
heroine. A sequel to “Jan Vedder’s Wife.” 

JOHN WARD, PREACHER. By Margaret Deland. 

The first big success of this much loved American novelist. 
It is a powerful portrayal of a young clergyman's attempt to win hi« 
beautiful wife to his own narrow creed. 

THE TRAIL OF NINETY-EIGH T. By Robert W. Service 

Illustrated by Maynard D-ixon. 

One of the best stories of “Vagabondia ” ever written, and 
one of the most accurate and picturesque of the stampede of gold 
seekers to the Yukon. The love story embedded in the narrative 
is strikingly original. 


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GROSSET & DUNLAP’S 

DRAMATIZED NOVELS 

Original, sincere and courageous — often amusing — the 
kind that are making theatrical history. 


MADAME X. By Alexandre Bisson and J. W. McCon- 
aughy. Illustrated with scenes from the play. 
A beautiful Parisienne became an outcast because her hus- 
band would not forgive an error of her youth. Her love for 
her son is the great final influence in her career. A tremen- 
dous dramatic success. 

THE GARDEN OF ALLAH. By Robert Hichens. 

An unconventional English woman and an inscrutable 
stranger meet and love in an oasis of the Sahara. Staged 
this season with magnificent cast and gorgeous properties. 

THE PRINCE OF INDIA. By Lew. Wallace. 

A glowing romance of the Byzantine Empire, presenting 
with extraordinary power the siege of Constantinople, and 
lighting its tragedy with the warm underglow of an Oriental 
romance. As a play it is a great dramatic spectacle. 

TESS OF THE STORM COUNTRY. By Grace 
Miller White. Illust. by Howard Chandler Christy. 
A girl from the dregs of society, loves a young Cornell U ni- 
versity student, and it works startling changes in her life and 
the lives of those about her. The dramatic version is one of 
the sensations of the season. 

YOUNG WALLINGFORD. By George Randolph 
Chester. Illust. by F. R. Gruger and Henry Raleigh. 
A series of clever swindles conducted by a cheerful young 
man, each of which is just on the safe side of a State’s prison 
offence. As “ Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford,’* it is probably 
the most amusing expose of money manipulation ever seen! 
3n the stage. 

THE INTRUSION OF JIMMY. By P. G. Wode- 
house. Illustrations by Will Grefe. 

Soc'al and club life in London and New York, van amateur 
burgb’fy adventure and a love story. Dramatized under the 
title of “A Gentleman of Leisure,” it furnishes hours of 
laughter to the play-goers. 


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THE NOVELS OF 

STEWART EDWARD WHITE 


rHE RULES OF THE GAME. Illustrated by Lajaren A. Hiller 

The romance of the son of “The Riverman.” The young college 
hero goes into the lumber camp, is antagonized by “graft” and comes 
nto tne romance of his life. 

ARIZONA NIGHTS. Ulus, and cover inlay by N. C. Wyeth. 

A series of spirited tales emphasizing some phases of the life, 
of the ranch, plains and desert. A masterpiece. 

THE BLAZED TR AIL. With illustiations by Thomas Fogarty 
A wholesome story with gleams of humor, telling of a young 
man who blazed his way to fortune through the heart of the Mich 
igan pines. 

THE CLAIM JUMPERS. A Romance. 

The tenderfoot manager of a mine in a lonesome gulch of the 
Black Hills has a hard time of it, but “wins out” in more ways than 
one. 

CONJUROR’S HOUSE. Illustrated Theatrical Edition. 

Dramatized under the title of “The Cali of the North,” 
“Conjuror’s House is a Hudson Bay trading post where the 
head factor is the absolute lord. A young fellow risked his life and 
won a bride on this forbidden land. 

THE MAGIC FOREST. A Modern Fairy Tale. Illustrated. 

The sympathetic way in which the children of the wild and 
their life is treated could only belong to one who is in love with the 
forest and open air. Based on fact. 

THE RIVERMAN. Ulus, by N. C. Wyeth and C. Underwood. 

The story of a man’s fight against a river and of a struggle 
between honesty and grit on the one side, and dishonesty and 
shrewdness on the other. 

THE SILENT PLACES. Illustrations by Philip R. Goodwin. 

The wonders of the northern forests, the heights of feminine 
devotion, and masculine power, the intelligence of the Caucasian 
and the instinct of the Indian, are all finely drawn in this story. 
THE WESTERNERS. 

A story of the Black Hills that is justly placed among the 
best American novels. It portrays the life of the new West as nc 
L>ther book has done in recent years. 

THE MYSTERY. In collaboration with Samuel Hopkins Adams 
With illustrations by Will Crawford. 

The disappearance of three successive crews from the stout 
ship “Laughing L^s” in mid -Pacific, is a mystery weird andinscrut' 
able. In the solution, there is a story of the most exciting voyage 
that man ever undertook. 


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LOUIS TRACY’S 

CAPTIVATING AND EXHILARATING ROMANCES 

May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap’s list 


CYNTHIA’S CHAUFFEUR. Illustrated by Howard Chandle: 
Christy. 

A pretty American girl in London is touring in a car with 
51 ^ chaiiffeur whose identity puzzles her. An amusing mystery. 

THE STOWAWAY GIRL. Illustrated by Nesbitt Benson. 

A shipwreck, a lovely girl stowaway, a rascally captain, % 
fascinating officer, and thrilling adventures in South Seas. 

THE CAPTAIN OF THE KANSAS. 

Love and the salt sea, a helpless ship whirled into the hands 
of cannibals, desperate fighting and a tender romance. 

THE MESSAGE. Illustrated by Joseph Cummings Chase. 

A bit of parchment found in the figurehead of an old veS' 
lel tells of a buried treasure. A thrilling mystery develops. 

THE PILLAR OF LIGHT. 

The pillar thus designated was a lighthouse, and the author 
tells with exciting detail the terrible dilemma of its cut-off in- 
habitants. 

THE WHEEL O’FORTUNE. With illustrations by James 
Montgomery Flagg. 

The story deals with the finding of a papvrus containing 
the particulars of some of the treasures of the Queen of Sheba. 

A SON OF THE IMMORTALS. Illustrated by Howard 
Chandler Christy. 

A young American is proclaimed king of a little Balkan 
Kingdom, and a pretty Parisian art student is the power behind 
the throne. 

THE WINGS OF THE MORNING . 

A sort of Robinson Crusoe redivivus "with modern setting! 
ind a very pretty love story added. The hero and heroine, arc 
the only survivors of a wreck, and have many thrilling adventures 
on their desert island. 


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JOHN FOX, JR’S. 

STORIES OF THE KEN TUCKY MOUNTAINS 

May be had wherever books are said. Ask for Grossel and Dunlap’s list 


THE TRAIL OF THE LONESOME PINE . 

Illustrated by F. C. Yohn. 

The “lonesome pine” from which the , 
story takes its name was a tall tree that 
stood in solitary splendor on a mountain 
top. The fame of the pine lured a young 
engineer through Kentucky to catch the 
trail, and when he finally climbed to its 
shelter he found not only the pine but the 
footprints of a girl. And the girl proved 
to be lovely, piquant, and the trail of 
these girlish foot-prints led the young 
engineer a madder chase than “the trail 
of the lonesome pine.” 

THE LITTLE SHEPHERD OF KINGDOM COM E 
Illustrated by F. C. Yohn. 

This is a story of Kentucky, in a settlement known as “King- 
dom Come.” It is a life rude, semi-barbarous; but natural 
and honest, from which often springs the flower of civilization. 

“ Chad.” the “little shepherd” did not know who he was nor 
whence he came — he had just wandered from door to door since 
early childhood, seeking shelter with kindly mountaineers who 
gladly fathered and mothered this waif about whom there was 
such a mystery — a charming waif, by the way, who could play 
the banjo better that anyone else in the mountains. 

A KNIGHT OF THE CUMBERLAND. 

Illustrated by F. C. Yohn. 

The scenes are laid along the waters of the Cumberland* 
the lair of moonshiner and feudsman. The knight is a moon- 
shiner’s son, and the heroine a beautiful girl perversely chris- 
tened “The Blight.” Two impetuous young Southerners’ fall 
under the spell of “The Blight’s ” charms and she learns what 
a large part jealousy and pistols have in the love making of the 
mountaineers. 

Included in this volume is “ Hell fer-Sartain” and other 
stories, some of Mr. Fox’s most entertaining Cumberland valley 
narratives. 


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STORIES OF RARE CHARM BY 

GENE STRATTON-PORTER 


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TPIE HARVESTER 
Illustrated by W. L. Jacobs 

“The Harvester,” David Langston, is 
a man of the woods and fields, who draw s 
his living from the prodigal hand of Mother 
Nature herself. If the book had nothing in 
it but the splendid figure of this man, wi>h 
his sure grip on life, his superb optimism, 
and his almost _ miraculous knowledge of 
nature secrets, it would be notable. But 
when the Girl comes to his “Medicine 
Woods,” and the Harvester’s whole sound, 
healthy, large outdoor being realizes that 
this is the highest point of life w'hich has 
come to him — there begins a romance, 
troubled and interrupted, yet of the rarest idyllic quality. 

FRECKLES. Decorations by E. Stetson Crawford 

Freckles is a nameless waif when the tale opens, but the way in 
which he takes hold of life; the nature friendships he forms in the 
great Limberlost Sw'amp; the manner in which everyone who meets 
him succumbs to the charm of his engaging personality; and his love- 
story with “The Angel” are full of real sentiment. 

A GIRL OF THE LIMBERLOST . 

Illustrated by Wladyslaw T. Brenda. 

The story of a girl of the Michigan woodst a buoyant, lovable 
type of the self-reliant American. Her philosophy is one of love and 
kindness towards all things; her hope is never dimmed. And by the 
sheer beauty of her soul, and the purity of her vision, she wins from 
barren and unpromising surroundings those rewards of high courage. 

It is an inspiring story of a life worth while and the rich beauties 
of the out-of-doors are strewn through all its pages. 

AT THE FOOT OF THE RAINBOW. 

Illustrations in colors by Oliver Kemp. Design and decorations by 
Ralph Fletcher Seymour. 

The scene of this charming, idyllic love story is laid in Central 
Indiana. The story is one of devoted friendship, and tender self- 
sacrificing love; the friendship that gives freely without return, and 
the love that seeks first the happiness of the object. The novel is 
brimful of the most beautiful word painting of nature, and its pathos 
and tender sentiment will endear it to all. 


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ii „ „ i, 

STORIES OF WF^^FERiM LIFE 


May bo had whe rever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap’s list 

RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE, By Zane Grey.~~ 
Illustrated by Douglas Duer. 

In this picturesque romance of Utah of some forty years ago, sve 
are permitted to see the unscrupulous methods employed by the in- 
visible hand of the Mormon Church to break the will of those refus* 
mg to conform to its rule. 

FRIAR TUCK, By Robert Alexander Wason, 

Illustrated by Stanley L. Wood. 

Happy Hawkins tells us, in his humorous way, how Friar Tuck 
lived among the Cowboys, how he adjusted their quarrels and love 
atfairs and how he fought with them and for them when occasion 
required. 

THE SKY PILOT, By Ralph Connor, 

Illustrated by Louis Rhead. 

There is no novel, dealing with the rough existence of cowboys, 
so charming in the telling, abounding as it does with the freshest and 
the truest pathos. 

THE EMIGRANT TRAIL, By Geraldine Bonner. 

Colored frontispiece by John Rae. 

The book relates the adventures of a party on its overland pil- 
grimage, and the birth and growth of the absorbing love of two strong 
men for a charming heroine. 

THE BOSS OF WIND RIVER , By A. M. Chisholm. 
Illustrated by Frank Tenney Johnson. 

This is a strong, virile novel with the lumber industry for its cen 
tral theme and a love story full of interest as a sort of subplot. 

A PRAIRIE COURTSHIP, By Harold Bindloss. 

A story of Canadian prairies in which the hero is stirred, through 
the influence of his love fora woman, to settle down to the heroic 
business of pioneer farming. 

JOYCE OF THE NORTH WOODS , By Harriet T. Comstock. 
Illustrated by John Cassel. 

A story of the deep woods that shows the power of love at work 
among its primitive dwellers. It is a tensely moving study of the 
human heart and its aspirations that unfolds itself through thrilling 
situations and dramatic developments. 


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GROSS ET6c DUNLAP’S 

DRAMATIZED NOVELS 


THE KIND THAT ARE MAKING THEATRICAL HISTORY 


May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap’s list 

WITHIN THE LAW. By Bayard Veiller & Marvin Dana, 
illustrated by Wm. Charles Cooke. 

This is a novelization of the immensely successful play which ran 
for two years in New York and Chicago. 

The plot of this powerful novel is of a young woman’s revenge 
directed against her employer -who allowed her to be sent to prison 
for three years on a charge of theft, of which she was innocent. 

WHAT HAPPENED TO MARY . By Robert Carlton Brown. 
Illustrated with scenes from the play. 

This is a narrative of a young and innocent country girl who is 
suddenly thrown into the very heart of New York, “the land of her 
dreams,’’ where she is exposed to all sorts of temptations and dangers. 

The story of Mary is being told in moving pictures and played in 
theatres all over the world. 

T HE RETURN OF PETER GRIMM . By David Belasco. 
Illustrated by John Rae, 

This is a novelization of the popular play in which David War, 
field, as Old Peter Grimm, scored such a remarkable success. 

The story is spectacular and extremely pathetic but withal, 
powerful, both as a book and as a play. 

THE GARDEN OF ALLAH. By Robert Hichens. 

This novel is an intense, glowing epic of the great desert, sunlit 
barbaric, with its marvelous atmosphere of vastness and loneliness. 

It is a book of rapturous beauty, vivid in word painting. The play 
has been staged with magnificent cast and gorgeous properties. 

BEN HUR . A Tale of the Christ. By General Lew Wallace. 

The whole world has placed this famous Religious-Historical Ro- 
mance on a height of pre- eminence which no other novel of its time 
has reached. The clashing of rivaliy and the deepest human passions, 
the perfect reproduction of brilliant Roman life, and the tense, fierce 
atmosphere of the arena have kept their deep fascination. A tre- 
mendous dramatic success. 

BOUGHT AND PAID FOR. By George Broadhurst and Arthur 
Hornblow. Illustrated with scenes from the play. 

A stupendous arraignment of modern marriage which has created 
an interest on the stage that is almost unparalleled. The scenes are laid 
in New Yorlc,and deal with conditions among both the rich and poor. 

The interest of the story turns on the day-by day developments 
which show the young wife the price she has paid. 


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